A
The
F l .Fisher
Ephemera
Ephemera: any thing short-lived
or transitory-such as mayflies
of the order Ephemeroptera. In
a museum collection the term
refers to paper materials, usually
printed items other than books.
I n our case, tacklecatalogs, scrapbooks, fishing licenses, fishing regulations, angling-related advertisements,
business cards, and the like, would qualify. These are items that generally get
thrown out when the desk drawer or the
attic trunk is purged of ostensible junk.
We often forget the importance of the
ephemera and focus o n the more glamorous items: rods, reels, and flies. We cannot overemphasize the importance of the
ephemera to a museum. As an example,
consider the scrapbook of C. F. Orvis that
we mentioned in a previous edition of the
American Fly Fisher, which is in our collection. It is a veritable gold minr o f
information concerning the early days of
the Orvis Company. Bills, receipts, business cards, and advertising material contained therein allow one to construct a
vivid picture of the workings of o n e o f
America's most important early tacklemakers. Without the scrapbook, this
information would have been lost to us.
So when you spring-clean next, if you
find something related to angling (related even in the remotest way), don't throw
it out-send it to
us, please. Let us
decide if it is
really junk.
. , ,.
F ~Fisher
v
WINTER
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OFFICERS
Ctrnirmati 01 ttir Board
C;ardnrr L. Grant
Pr?.iidrnl
Rol)rrt R. Ruckmaster
Ifirr Prrsidrt~l
W. Mic-liarl Firqrr;rld
Trrniu rrr
Leigh H . Perkins
Srcrrtary
Ian D. Mac-kay
A.rsi.slanl Srcrrlary lClrrk
Charles R. Eirhel
STAFF
Exrruliz~eDirrclor
John Merwin
1)rpuly I)irrrlor/Dn~rlopntrnl
Lyman S. Foss
Ex~ruliz~
Assiilanl
r
Pailla Wyman
Rr,qi.ilmr
Alanna Fisher
Journal Edilor
David B. Ledlick
Arl Dirrrlor
Martha Poole Mcrwir~
Copy Edilor
Diana M. Mor1c.y
OJJrrl I'rrpamlion and Prinling
Lane Press. Burlingron. Vermont
Volume 13 Number 1
1986
O n the corler:
Photograph of John Harrington Keene from the frontispiece of
the 1921 edition of his book, The Mystery o f Handwriting.
We belime that the photograph was taken circa 1888, when
Keene was thirty-three years old.
Automatic Fly Reels
John Orrelle
............... 2
Dry Flies on the Ondawa: The Tragic
Tale of John Harrington Keene
.
David B. Ledlie
......
18
............
23
Pyramid Lake and its Cutthroat Trout
Robert J. Behn ke
William Radcliffe and the
Grand Mesa Lake Feud
William Wiltzius
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Notes and Comment
Museum News
. . . . . . . .8
Automatic Fly Reels
Ralph A ldrich's outrageous
fishing float, patented in 1885
by John Orrelle
We are pleased to welcome back
to the pages of the American Fly
I Fisher, reel-expert J o h n Orrelle.
John's last contribution appeared
more than ten years ago in the
first volume of the American Fly
Fisher (1974).H i s article o n automatic fly reels is a chapter from his forthcoming book o n American fly reels. W e
hope to publish additional chapters i n
future issues of our journal.
T h e period in America from after the
Civil War to the close of the nineteenth
century was one of rapid industrialism,
one in which machines sprouted and proliferated like some strange crop from an
alien planet. There were machines for
everything-the more complicated the
better; whether or not they worked was
sometimes an entirely peripheral matter.
Few people were immune to the fascination and allure of all this gadgetry, which
promised to do jobs faster and cheaper (if
not better), and whose siren call often
trapped otherwise sensible people into a
dinosauric bog of financial ruin. Among
Arthrr Wakemarl pntrntrd h z ~lznrtwlrlznq rla11ce zn 1881. It nlloulrd
thr anqler to rotntr h z ~
fly or bazt
and thur naake zt trrm morr lzfrlzkr
to thr fzth.
fitv4'
others, one recalls the quixotic pursuit of
Mark Twain for a type-setting machine,
an automated marvel that never worked
and in whose quest he unsuccessfully
squandered several fortunes.
It was during this same period that
some of the wildest fishing tackle imaginable made its way i n t o the patent
records, from spring-loaded fish hooks
and traps, to hinged fishing rods (with
built-in scales), tandem reels, and oystero p e n i n g machines. O n e of the more
imaginative of these was the brainchild
of L. A. Peck of Newton, Massachusetts,
w h o i n November 1876, patented a
machine for fishing that was described in
the 0fficial Gazette simply as ". . . a n
apparatus for throwing a weighted hook
and line a distance seaward." Judging by
the patent drawings, the inventor must
have had in mind the outer limits of the
Grand Banks, for the machine looks fully
capable of throwing a line across Lake
Superior! Constructed in the form of a
catapult, the patent records fail to mention if a model was submitted-in which
case a team of horses would have been
required to transport it.
But there were other equally ambitious
inventions. Two of my favorites were the
c o n t r a p t i o n s of R a l p h Aldrich a n d
Archer Wakeman, whose genius is certainly evident, if not somewhat mis,guided.
T h e Aldrich patent (see illustration)
deserves top honors. When I first came
across it, I thought I'd made a mistake,
for right in the middle of the section of
fishing floats and reels (from a Commissioner's Report, 1885)was what appeared
to be a New England fishing dory. A
quick reading of the patent text revealed
this to be indeed a fishing float, although
it was really a self-contained, fully automated fishing machine. Constructed of a
piece of wood about a foot to a foot and a
half in length, the float was fashioned in
the shape of a boat, featuring an anchor, a
folding mast w i t h sail (whose significance was paramount), and a fishing reel
installed amidships. T o use the float, the
hook was baited, a length of line drawn
from the reel, and the mast locked in a
horizontal position by a tripping bar attached to the reel:
In this condition the float is to be
anchored out in the water and the
hook dropped. T h e mast and reel
will remain in this locked condition until the line is disturbed sufficiently by the biting of a fish to
turn the reel, whereupon the crank
will be moved off from the rod h
and set the reel and mast free. thus
giving play-line to the fish andsignaling the biting or catching of a
fish.
But it is the last paragraph of the patent claims that contains the prescriptive
zeal of Mr. Aldrich; with a certain entrepreneurial elan, he advises as follows:
In most cases the fisherman will
provide himself with seueral of the
floats, and after anchoring them
out in the water will await the
hoisting of a sail, upon which he
will proceed to the float, pull in the
fish and rebait the hook and reset
the float, and in most cases the bott o m of the floats will be painted
green, so that when i n the water
they will resemble the leaf of some
water-plant and not frighten the
fish (!). [italics mine]
Archer Wakeman's invention (see illustration) was just as incredible, especially
when one realizes that its sole purpose
was to twist line! His "fishing tackle,"
doubtless classified by a shocked patent
clerk hesitant to call it anything more
specific, is best appreciated by reading
the actual patent description, which in
delicate circumlocution minimizes the
problems of line twist:
A divice to be applied to a fishing-line for the purpose of twirling
or rotating the line, and with it the
fly or bait at its end. Arotary diskor
head to which the line or gimp is
attached is connected with a crank,
or with an automatically operating
mechanism by which the line may
be rotated.. .. T h e line B, or much
thereof as extends from the reel to
and through the tubular guide, is
made of gimp, or of other material
having sufficient stiffness to turn
without buckling o r twisting to
any material extent, yet capable of
being readily wound upon the reel.
T h e line being provided with the
usual fly or bait, and the latter
being allowed to hang from the rod
and thereby to straighten the line,
it will be seen that rotation imparted to the shell or cylinder by the
train E will be transmitted to the
line B, and through it to the bait or
fly, the swivel of the bait being
made sufficiently tight to prevent
rotation therein u n t i l a fish is
hooked, a n d resistance thereby
offered to the rotation of the bait.
There were numerous other madcap
schemes for catching fish or "improving" tackle, and while the above examples are somewhat removed from flyfishing (excepting the Wakeman patent,
which at least is picturedwith a fly on the
line), they capture the spirit of the times
very well.
It was out of this atmosphere and the
preoccupation with machinery that the
automatic fly reel was born. Particularly
well suited to those whose sole objective
was to catch more and bigger fish faster,
they typify the pragmatic bent of the
period and the inordinate concern with
efficiency. Of the criticism sometimes
leveled at these reels, it is significant that
this usually centered on their mechanical
aspects, occasionally its heavy weight,
but rarely if ever on theappearance of the
reel. Thus, however pedestrian in form,
automatic reels were symbolic of the
American's love of gadgets, and were destined to become immensely popular.
YAWMAN & ERBE REELS
T h e earliest automatic fly reels successfully marketed in this country were the Y
& E reels, manufactured by the Yawman
& Erbe C o m p a n y of Rochester, New
York. Although inscribed with a patent
date of December 9, 1880, the actual patent record for this reel gives a date of
December 7, 1880, which was issued in
the n a m e of Francis A. Loomis, the
inventor of the reel. O n July 5, 1881, a
second patent was issued, with no discernible change in the form of the reel,
but with one-half of the patent rights
assigned to James S. Plumb of Syracuse,
New York (what the relationship was
between Loomis and Plumb is anybody's
guess). Still later patents were issued on
February 28, 1888, and January 16, 1891,
with other patents pending at that time
(Note: many of the Y & E reels are erroneously stamped February 28, 1898 instead
of 1888). Most of these later patents
related to modifications of the braking
a r m , a l t h o u g h at least o n e of them
involved a new model of the reel.
There are two basic forms of the Y & E
automatic. Contrary to what the appearance of these forms suggests, the earliest
reel was not the one with the famous
winding key, but instead was similar to
the reel pictured at the left in the accompanying illustration. This is often confusing, since the model with the winding
key has such an antiquated look about it.
Early ads of the Y & E indicate that the
original form-the one that subsequently
was advertised as the Old Reliable-came
in one size only, but was made from a
choice of brass, nickeled brass, bronze, or
hard rubber. Shortly after its introduction (sometime in the mid- 1880s),the reel
was fitted with a n improved brakingand-release lever shaped in such a way as
to facilitate positioning of the finger in
the upturned end of thearm; earlier braking arms had been little more than a simple wire extension with a loop in theend.
T h e actual braking pad on the arm was
simply a wrapping of thread or other
line, which has a peculiar makeshift
appearance and is misleading to those
who have never seen a Y & E reel (the
immediate impression is that the linewas
wrapped around the arm as an emergency
measure, when in fact it was original
equipment, see illustration). It was the
modified braking arm (with the slight
crook in the end) that gave rise to the
Y & E slogan "The Little Finger Does It,"
which later appeared on the HorrocksIbbotson Utica Automatic.
Around 1890, two additional sizes were
added to the Old Reliable model series:
the no. 1, no. 2, and no. 3, that could carry
90, 150, and 300 feet of line respectively.
By this time, reels made from bronze and
brass had been discontinued, but the no. 1
and no. 2 reels werestill available in nickeled brass. hard rubber. and-for the first
time-aluminum; the no. 3 reel was
made from aluminum only. Thus, for
dating purposes, those reels made of
unplated brass or bronze are of a very
early vintage and naturally these are the
scarcest.. . .
By 1900 a new model had been introduced-the New Style Automatic Combination Reel, available in styles A, B, or C,
with plate diameters of 2 7/16, 3%,and 4%
inches. Stated line capacities were 125,
300. and 600 feet of no. 5 silk line (or 50,
90, and 150 feetwithout rewinding). This
New Style Reel featured a sliding plateon
the front of the reel that made it suitable
for either automaticor free-spool casting.
Tension could also be adjusted by means
of a conspicuous winding key located in
the center of the front plate.
Regarding the proper use of theseearly
automatics, they were designed to be used
originally as either bait-casting or fly
reels (In 1897 Thomas Chubb [catalog]
recommended his reversible butt rod, i.e.
a rod that could be used for either fly- or
bait-casting, for use with the automatic
reels). Still, this was a sorlrce of some
confusion for many early anglers, and
sporting periodicals of the late nineteenth century contain many letters from
inquiring readers wanting to know if
they could use automatics for minnow
casting.
T h e Y & E automatic reels were made
for many years. In 1920 they were marketed by the Horrocks-Ibbotson Company, direct successors to Yawman &
Erbe. A Horrocks-Ibbotson catalog of
that year lists the smallest style A reel for
$10.00 and the large styleC for $14.00; the
no. 1 and no. 2 Old Reliables sold for
$7.50 and $9.00. Prices were about the
same some fourteen years later.
For the reel collector, the earlier Y & E
models are particularly desirable because
they were made for only a few years.
T h e s e were made of unplated brass,
bronze, nickeled brass, and hard rubber.
T h e aluminum reels were manufactured
for more than fifty years and arc by no
means rare items.
T H E FRANKLIN SMITH
AUTOMATIC
Between 1880 and 1890, there were
close to fifty patents issued relating to
fishing rrels, some of them bizarre and
unwieldy creations and doomed to fail-
become detached from their anchoring
posts; the Y & E is a prime example).
It is this second model of the Franklin
Smith automatic that is significant, for
regardless of its eventual fate, it was t h e
first automatic w i t h a truly modrrn form.
Still, like the first version, this model, for
some reason, is noticeably absent k o m
any angling literature of the day, and I
have found n o evidence that it was ever
manufactured for sale. Like many reels, it
may have had a small but fatal flaw.
Whatever the reason, the Franklin automatic's commercial failure is a n interesting mystery of the period.
T H R E E O F A KIND
A n enrly Ynrumnn and Erbe reel,
circa 1885, illu.~trati n g the linr-wrap
brakr pnd o n t h r linr-releare lever
ure, but others were quite efficient and
later became very successful (both baitcasting a n d fly reels, including those
designed by the Vom Hofe brothers, John
Kopf, and Thomas Chubb); yet only a
few automatic reels were patented during
this same period.
O n e of the more notable examples,
which evidently never got off theground,
was invented and patented by Franklin
R. Smith of Syracuse, New York, o n July
26, 1881 (one-half assigned to Willis S.
Barnum). Its appearance was similar to
the Y & E (see illustrations), but had a
lower profile and a spool covering the
gears (the spool of the Y & E is of a skeleton type, completely enclosing but leavi n g t h e gears of t h e reel exposed).
Although the patent drawings show the
usual features generally associated with
automatic reels, including a braking
lever and line guard, this model apparentlv suffered severe defects. for within a
year Franklin Smith was issued another
patent o n the same reel, but with several
modifications. According to the patent
claims, this new model (patented June
20, 1882, see illustration) featured five
major improvements: 1. the reel was
made to be used with interchangeable
spools (one of the few automatics ever
made claiming such a feature), 2. the line
guard was an integral part of the braking
lever (which may have been a serious
flaw), 3. the s h a p e of the line guard
(which was fitted with a "lateral inlet for
the introduction a n d removal of the
line"), 4. a spool that fitted over the tension spring and gears and thus protected
them from water and dust, and 5. a square
post within the spring housing designed
to allow easy attachment and removal of
the spring (one of the chief faults of automatic reels-including contemporary
models-are springs that either break o r
Shortly after 1900, the Kelso Automatic
made its appearance, a reel that subsequently gave rise to at least two other
automatics that were practically identical, the Rochester Automatic and then
common feature o n many later automatics.
T h e third reel to rvolve from the Kelso
was the famous Pflueger Superex, whit h
made its appear-ance sometime around
1920 (see illustration). Nearly identical in
form and size to both the Rochester and
Kelso, it became an enormously popular
automatic and was claimed by Pflueger
to be the best automaticof its day. LJnlike
the Kelso and Rochester, thesuperex was
fitted with a tension-relief device located
inside the reel, a longer braking lever, a
main-spring tension release, a n oiling
port o n the back plate, a n d a sliding plate
o n the lever arm that made it adjustable
for free-spool casting o r trolling. Later
models of the Superex (circa 1930) came
with a modified brake release consisting
of a curved arm fitted into the top of the
braking lever.
R e g a r d i n g sizes, l i t e r a t u r e of t h e
period indicates the Kelso and Rochester
were made i n a single size (3%-inchplate
diameter), while the Superex came in two
styles, both with the same diameter but
with different pillar widths (Y inch for the
no. 775, and 1%inches for the no. 778). All
of these reels bear the November 19, 1907,
patent date stamped o n the winding cap.
T H E C A R L T O N AUTOMATIC
r
l G - 4
-
rlG-5-
Patent drawings (1882) for Franklin
Smith's automatic fly reel. According
t o J o h n Orrelle, it is t h e first
automatic fly reel w i t h the "modern"
form.
the Pflueger Superex (see illustration).
This reel, patented November 19, 1907
(see illustration), was made from aluminum; its chief feature was the looped
braking lever similar to the one found o n
the Utica reel by Horrocks-Ibbotson.
Later models of the Kelso had levers of
solid construction such as those foundon
virtually a l l a u t o m a t i c s after 1925.
Around 1910 the Kelso was advertised
under the Diamond Brand and distributed by the Norvell-Shapleigh Company.
T h e Rochester Automatic was virtually identical to the Kelso, except for a
slightly different base-plate and a checkered design stamped o n the edge of the
winding cap. T h i s reel, along with the
later models of the Kelso, was a l s o
equipped with a rectangular line guard, a
A less familiar automatic reel dating
from the same period as the early Kelso
a n d Rochester reels w a s the C a r l t o n
Automatic, made and distributed by the
C a r l t o n M a n u f a c t u r i n g C o m p a n y of
Rochester, New York (see illustration).
Somewhat similar in appearance to the
older Y & E (an extremely wide reel with
the shape of a coffee mill), the Carlton
was made from a combination of alumin u m and German silver and came in one
size only. It was one of the few automatic
reels carried by William Mills & Son; it
sold for approximately $5 in 1910.
MEISSELBACH AND MARTIN
AUTOMATICS
August F. Meisselbach was one of the
most inventive and prolific reelmakers in
T h e Carlton automatic, o n e of the
few automatic reels sold by
W i l l i a m Mills and S o n
I T w o rrnrnplrr o j rrn,rniitonmt~c
fly rrrlr: P b K Rr-Trrtv-It ( l r j t ) and Fly Cl~nrnp(rlglrt). hotli irrrn 1940
America. His famous Exprrt ant1 Rainbow single-action reels werr the favorites
for tens of thousands of Arncrican anglers
for more than half a century. T h e first
Meisselbach automatic, howrvrr, ditl not
appear until 1914 (patenterl J u n e 30.
1914). T h i s reel, measuring 3'5 inc,hes in
diameter, was made of German silver and
suitable only for the heavicst rods; at well
over a pound in weight, this was one you
didn't want to drop o n your foot!
T w o later Meisselbac-h a u t o m a t i c s
were the 655 Automatic ant1 thr no. 660
Autofly Reel (circa 1920, see illustration).
Both of these reels were madc of aluminum and were considerably lighter than
the older 1914 model. Typical of thr Mt5isselbach genius for locking dcvic.es (such
as those found o n the famous Triparts,
Tak-a-Parts, a n d various occan reels),
both of these automatics featured ;I knob
o n the underside of the reel for rrlcasing
the bottom plate, as well as an adjustment for free-spool casting o r trolling.
T h e Martin Fishing Reel Company of
Ilion, New York (later of Mohawk), was
one of the first manufacturers of automatic reels in this country, and they produced what are possibly the most pol)ular
automatic reels ever made (scr illustration). First patented o n July 26, 1892,
with later patents issued in 1895, 1897,
and 1903 (others pending at the time), the
early Martin reels are significant brcause
they set the form for practically all later
automatics; indeed, because of their thoroughly modern appearance they are casily mistaken for more recent reels-so
much so that Martins in earlier catalogs
look incongruous and strangely out o f
place.
Identifiable by t h e flower p a t t e r n
stamped o n the edge of the winding tap,
earlier reels were made of German silver
and came to be known generally as thc
Martin standard reels. Later these were
made from a l u m i n u m with frames of
German silver, and by 1905, entirely of
a l u m i n u m . T h e s e early reels-those
made circa 1910 to 1915-were fitted with
a tension-release device (cylindrical in
shape and pulled out to release the tension of the mainspring), a brake-release
lever that could be adjusted by a fingerplate to put the reel into free-spool position (there were at least two variations of
this adjusting plate prior to 1920),a n d o n
later models a rectangular line guard.
Some of theearlier Martins (those bearing the Ilion patent) show oneof thegear
wheels partially exposed on the underside of the reel, had riveted frames, and
were stamped with the inscription Lint=
Out Herr o n the inner surface of the bott o m plate. L a t e r models h a d bottom
plates modified to enclose thegear wheel,
hut with a still-discernable bulge where
the wheel protruded beyoncl the normal
limits of the circular gear housing; these
same reels were assembled with screws
and did not have the stamped inscription.
For many years the Martin automatic
was available only in the standard model,
which came in four sizes: the no. 1, 2, 3,
and 4 reels-the latter a large-capacity
model advertised as the salmon reel. In
the 1920s, Martin introdtcccd the FlyWate reel (1924) and the large Trolling
Automatic, both of which hecame very
popular. Like many other rrels, prices for
the Martin were high when the reel was
first introduced, hut came down once a
market had been firmly est;cblished. In
1905 the salmon model sold for approximately $9, while in 1924 the price was
down to $5.
SEMIAUTOMATIC REELS
I n addition to the various automatic
reels appearing between 1880 and 1900, a
few others were patented that combined
I
both m ; ~ n u a l and automatic retrieve.
Most of these were imaginative contraptions, but impractical and short-lived. At
least two of them rmployed spiral-ratchct
gearing and a pull-string like that found
o n toy tops. O n e of these, invented by
Granville E. Metllcy of Hopkinsville,
Kentucky, appears to have been mainly
built from sewing-thread spools! Another
similar rr.t.1, patented I)y Charles F. Gillet
o f Springfielcl, Illinois (pat. no. 389,070,
Septem1)c.r 4, 1888), worked on the same
principle, a n d while more elaborately
constructed, seems equally improbable.
Both of these rigs wrare outrageous, and
only an extra arm or hand could have
madc them usable (in nrither case were
models submittrd). A third semiautomatic was invented 1)v Charles Bradford
(patented June 19. 1888). and although it
at least maintainctl the lines of moreconventional reels, it was, like the other two,
soon destined for oblivion.
T w o modern rrcls of the 1940s that
employed ratchrt grxring were the P & K
Re-Treev-It (Pachncbr & Koller, Inc.) and
t h e Fly C;hamp ( C h a m p i o n S p o r t s
Equipment Company, see illustration).
O n both these reels, line was retrieved o n
the upstroke of a n extension lever (on the
Fly C h a m p this It,ver co~cldbe folded
away for strictly manual retrieve), and
while both functiont,d basically as designed, there were several drawbacks to
each. For one thing, operating the lever
with the finger as intended involved an
awkward shifting aro~rntlof the grip o n
the rod, a fatiguing maneuver involving
an unnatural flrxing of the little finger.
Added to this was the irregular start-stop
motion of the spool, which retrieved line
with uneven tension and likely increased
problems of line tangle. Finally, neither
of these reels hati satisfactory clicks, a
point apparently neglrctrcl because of
concentration o n the novel retrieving
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R e p r e t m t a t z ~ ~automatzc
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fly reels, czrca 1907 to 1920
Center: Kelto automatzc, czrca 1907-1910
Clockwztr from top: Early Martzn automatzc, czrca 1910-1920;
Mezttelbach Autofly, czrca 1920; Utzca, czrca 1915-1920; Early Martzn #3;
Pfleuqer Suprex, czrca 1920; and fzrst Mezstelbach automatzc, czrca 1914
mechanism. While the (.lick o n the Fly
C h a m p was satisfactory at bvst, the one
on tho Rr-'Ii-revc-It was made in such a
way as t o makr playing ;I fish directly
from the rrrl virtually im1,ossible because of I-ongh vibl-ations tlirratening to
shake thC rrcl apart when line was pulled
from it.
A morc rccent form of this typeof reel is
the DeWitt Re-Treeve-It, which appears
to be built on the same patcmt as theolder
P & K model. With a somrwhat more
strearnlinrrl shape, the I c v r ~of this reel
has been rxtrntieci considrra1)ly. T h i s
makes the opet-ation of the lever a less
tiring maneuver.
MODERN AUTOMATICS
T h e basic form and operation of the
automatic fly reel was well established
with the introduction of the Y & E, Martin, and Meisselbach reels. Between 1900
and 1940, a number of other firms produced them (Perrine, Shakespeare, Hedd o n , Horrock-Ibbotson, etc.), but the
overall a p p e a r a n c e of t h e a u t o m a t i c
remained the same. Ocean City made a n
automatic fitted with handles that could
be used either manually o r automatically
(the model go), Shakespeare advertised
o n e w i t h a level w i n d ( t h e n o . 1838
W o n d e r - F u l l ) ) , a n d m a n y new freestripping reels appeared. Most companies made both horizontal a n d vertical
models, and a very few offered reels with
interchangeable spools (in the 1970sGarcia made this a strong advertising point).
Aside from these minor innovations and
certain changes in construction materials, automatics have remained essentiallv the same.
Regarding the use of automatic fly
reels, opinion is generally divided into
two ,groups, with strong feelings evinced
by both; those w h o use and like automatics are wedded to them irrevocably, while
others find them better suited for doorstops. For a thirdgroup-mostly angling
editors w h o are hesitant to state explicit
opinion-they are a sometime thing.
Particularly in the early part of this century, automatic reels were held in high
esteem, a n d a great deal of space was
devoted to their praise. Among others,
0. W. Smith, angling editor for Outdoor
Life in the twenties, wrote a number of
articles o n automatics, including them in
a piece o n the "Dry Fly Reel." For many
anglers though, putting a n automatic o n
a fine fly rod was like tying a brick to it.
T h e horilontal reels werr especially disliked, since they were comparatively
heavy and often put a peculiar torquing
motion into a rod-destroying its feel
and balance.
AUTOMATIC FLY REELS:
P R O AND CON
T h e following two narratives, taken
from early sporting periodicals, describe
both the drawbacks and virtues of the
automatic fly reel.
T h e story told by "C.D.C." appeared in
a n 1887 issue of Forest cL Stream, and
while written before the automatic had
been fully developed, points out the troubleson~egremlins that somtimes hid in
the spring mechanisms of the automatic
-contemporary models included. It is
very likely that the author was describing
the old Y & E reel, a model known for a
spring that sometimes came "unhitched."
Writing for Outdoor Lifr in 1919, Jack
Maxwell relates a disastrous encounter
with a black bass, in which he becomesin
immediate and solid convert to the automatic. Done in by the limitations of the
single-action reel and demonic cockleburrs, he advises anglers to stay well clear
of both. T h e two accounts follow:
"EXPERIENCE W I T H TACKLE"
To the I.:ditor, Forr.tt cL Strcam:
Perhapsit would be in order just now
to say that the article which appearcad
over my signature in your issur of July 7
was written some four years ago and has
only now made its way into tlic printel-'s
hands.
Sincr writing it my opinion in regard
to reels has changed a n~rmht.rof times.
Since about the year 1865, at which
time my parents moved hcrc from Massachusetts, I have devotetl morr o r less of
my tinic to Fishing For trout. I early
learned the use of the fly-rod, and from
the time I first began to handle the reel
until the, prt.sent time1 havc. never found
a reel that was just as it ought to be. I have
bought a n u m b e r of rerls a n d used a
number of different kinds, and still have
never found one that was all right. Perhaps it is my fa~llt,but if t h t ~ c i anything
s
that will cause an angler trouble and expense it is a poor reel.
I thought when I wrote the article
referred to that I had found the thing I
h a d l o n g been looking for, a n d that
henceforth I should have n o trouble with
slack line, broken tips, and accidents of
that nature. When the next September
came, and I had made preparations for a
trip to the Connecticut Lakes, Parmachene Lake and the Rangeleys, I did not
think it necessary to provide myself with
another rrel, more esprcially as a good
part of my way was to be through the
woods, where all the luggage must ht
earl-ied o n my hack, and I well knew that
every pound would grow to he a hundred
before I had carried the pack ten miles.. . .
T h e morning after our arrival at J o h n
Danforth's I put my tackle together ant1
startetl out to try my luck at catching a
five-pounder, but just then five-pound
trout were a little scarce, so I had to content myself with some of about a pound
weight. T h e reel worked all right for a
time, but a b o u t n o o n I succeeded in
h o o k i n g a fish m u c h larger t h a n any
before, and then I noticed a little hitch in
thc internal arrangements of the mechanism. At first it would g o a l l right, then it
would seem inclined to dispute the rights
of t h e l i n e w i t h the fish, but it wouldsoon
r e p e n t of b e i n g s o h a s t y a n d m a k e
amends by giving h i m nearly all the line
it had. But evidently that was not just
right, for then it would sulk and refuse
most decidedly whether to take back the
portion of the line that the fish had got
through with or to g i v e u p any more. T h e
state of my mind at that time could be
easily imagined, hut would be hard to
describe. At last the reel got over itsobstinancy and went along as well as ever, and I
had begun to have hopes of being able to
secure the fish, when as i t made a desperate plunge a n d r u n for liberty, I felt something s n a p inside the reel, ancl then there
was such a whirring noise that o n e would
think a n old-fashioned clock was getting
ready to strike, and the reel was dead. T o
say that I was vexed would he to state it
very mildly indeed. T h e r c was 50 yards of
l i n r out and a good fish o n the end of it,
and n o prospects of being able to get it in
i n any k i n d of shape. My anxiety in
regard to the fish was soon released by his
g o i n g away somewhere ancl t a k i n g a
good leader and three flies with him. I
succeeded, after a time, in getting the line
o n the reel and started for camp, where I
immediately began to take the reel apart
and ascertain the extent of the damage. I
found that the spring had become unhitched at one end, and after working o n
it all the afternoon succerdecl in getting it
back together again.
After that it went along quite well for
two or three days, but I ciid not take any
comfort with it, for I did not know how
soon it would "baulk up" again. At last,
one afternoon as we were beginning to
fish, snap went the spring. It was broken
and as a reel was of n o use, but as a n
infernal invention for keeping a m a n
from enjoying himself it was a decided
success. I immediately returned to camp,
and was expressing my opinion of the
reel in quite decided terms, when an old
gentleman w h o was present i m l ~ l i e dhis
readiness to deprive himself of a nice reel
he had for a sufficicnt remuneration, a n
offer which I at once accepted.
T h e careful reader will perhaps surm i s e before t h i s t h a t my o p i n i o n i n
r e g a r d t o t h e " a u t o m a t i c reel" h a d
changed, but for the benefit of those who
have not already come to that conclusion,
I will now state that, while theautomatic
is a good reel as long as it works well, it is
so liahle to get out of order and is so
expensive to keep in repair ( a n d if broken
in the woods it cannot be mended), that I
think I am justified in saying that it is a
good reel not to have.
I have just got a new reel from another
well-known dealer, and expect soon to
find out what the timber is with that.
C.D.C., Northumberland, N.H.,
July 9, 1887
WHY I USE AN AUTOMATIC
(Outdoor Life, 1919)
S o far as I a m personally concerned, in
the angling game I much prefer theautomatir reel for fly fishing; let the other
fellow use anything he likes; m e for the
automatic, and as Mr. Post says, "there is
a reason", as the following brief experience will show:
Some years ago I was fishing one of my
favorite lakes for bass, using a flyrod and
a certain well-known single click fly reel.
My luck o n this particular day was not
phenomenal to say the most, however, I
was hanging a No. 4 fly in the face of a
bass now and then, and was, to all intent
and purpose, having a bully good time.
According to the custom I was carrying a
few feet of line looped gracefully in my
left hand as a sort of reserve fund and was
getting by very well in this manner, until
something happened that caused me to
sit u p and take notice of the extra line I
had in my left hand.
Extending o u t from the shore line o n
o n e side of the lake was a moss-bed reachi n g out possibly fifty feet and just at the
farthest edge of the moss a very athletic
bass was g o i n g t h r o u g h his m o r n i n g
calisthenics while rustling u p his breakfast. T h e idea occurred to me at once to
slip him something just as good, so I
proceeded to work out my line until I
could reach his city address and dropped
my Black G n a t right in his plate. N o
sooner had the fly landed than the bass
smacked his face together ancl by a s i m p l e
twist of the wrist and with a little assistance from the fish we had turned the trick
and Mr. Bass was o n the other end of the
string and it was u p to me to d o the rest.
Growing wild, without any help from
mankind in the way of cultivation, fertilization, "Burbanking" o r transplanting,
<growingabundantly and multiplying in
most any old kind of soil, is a weed, plant,
or something, in this precinct commonly
called by the inhabitants of the rural districts a "cockle-bur".
T h i s varmint of a weed is s o loving that
it will almost stick to thepolishedsurface
of a marble slab, and if a fisherman's line
becomes entangled in this aforesaid "Farmer's Curse", he had just as well stop and
unhitch right where he stancls. T h e fish
may spit the fly out of its face, but this
cussed i m i t a t i o n of a weed w i l l n o t
release a n anglcr's line.. . .
Soon as I hooked the fish I startccl to
work his noodle u p over the moss so I
could possibly land h i m at the shore
where I was standing. I succeeded in my
first performance very well and had him
c o m i n g toward the frying-pan, when
something seemed to go wrong in my
i m m e d i a t e vicinity; s t e p p i n g swiftly
backwards, I gave a t u g at the line I was
carrying i n my left hand, but there was
nothing doing; looking quickly around1
had lamped the cockle-bur. T o get my
line untangled instantly was impossiblc~
a n d I at once turned my attention to the
fish, but he had madr the most of the
opportunity and was under the moss.. . .
When I got loose my nice enameled line,
all I had to show for my vexation of spirit
was a little bunch of beautiful green lake
moss fastened to my hook.
After cooling down, or off, as the case
may have been, I figured in this manner:
I f I had been carrying my lineon a n automatic at this particular time, the aforem e n t i o n e d accident m i g h t not h a v e
occurred, as I would have had n o excess
baggage in the shape of a l i n r in my left
hand; therefore I beat it hack to town ant1
at once purchased an automatic reel. I
simply followed u p my hunch ancl have
lived happily ever since.
I prefer the automatic, because I can
handle my line with just a little bit less
exasperation at a critical moment, anrl
l i k e t w i n babies, these m o m e n t s d o
happen now and then.
But playing a fish with a single-action
reel, stripping in the line ancl letting it
fall at your feet is mighty finesport and i f
the other fellow prefers this method I say
let him "hop to it"; but if thercshould he
any cockle-burs along the shore line, he
had bettcr best shy of them while playing
his fish, as they arc liable to "gum t h r
game" at the critical moment just ;is they
did for me. Now just try torememher that
a difference in opinions is what makes
horseracing ancl fishing w o ~ t h w h i l r ~so,
always try to pick the winner, placc your
money o n your favorite, sit steady in the
boat and "may good luck follow you".
Jack Maxwcll, 1919
B
J o h n Orrrlle holds a n m t r r ' r dqqrre I T Z
p ~ y c h o l o g yand trachrs at Clackamas
C o m m u ~ z z t yCollrgr, nrar Portland,
Oregon. H e 2s an ai~zdtrout fzcherman
u ~ h oenjoys fzrhzng zrz nearby Azghaltztudr lakes. Hzs artzclrs h a w
appeared zn Fly F ~ s h e r Fly
,
Fl$he~man,
and Outdoor Llfe.
J o h n Harrzngton Kern?. A steel
engra~lzngfrom the October 1888 zssuc
of Wildwoods's Magazine ( ~ 0 11. , no. 6 ,
frontzrpzece)
Drv Flies on the Ondawa:
he Tragic Tale of
John ~ & i n g t o nKeene
It must be fifteen years since I
first read V i n c e n t M a r i n a r o ' s
Modern Dry Fly Code-not the
scarce first edition that P u t n a m
published i n 1950, but the more
affordable C r o w n reissue that
became available i n 1970.1 think
I read it i n one sitting, and I know I reread
it at least three times w i t h i n the next few
weeks. A true innovator of his time, Marinaro introduced m e , and a good many
American anglers, to the world of terrestrials and to a new approach to tying
dry-fly imitations of various mayflies.
H i s Jassids, Pontoon Hoppers, Thorax
Hackled Duns, and Quill-Bodied Spinners (all extremely effective patterns) are
n o w well k n o w n t o m o s t serious fly
fishermen of today. Marinaro's influence
o n fly-fishing wasprofound. H i s insightful book was a sharp contrast to and a
break from Ray Bergman's Trout ( a uery
popular book originally published i n
1939 and still considered a bibleon trout
fishing well into the sixties) that touted
Bivisibles, showy wet-fly patterns, and of
course the ultimate of nonimitation, the
Royal Coachman.
More important, however, and trans-
cending t h e particulars of Marinaro's
Code, its reissue marks the beginning of
an era, a renaissance i n American flyfishing i n w h i c h innovation, m o d e r n
science, and m o d e r n technology have
combined t o give u s h i g h l y efficient
tackle, highly effective imitations, and
remarkably successful techniques for the
capture of fish w i t h a fly, especially the
dry fly. Theserious fly fishermanof today
has by n o w read Swisher and Richards,
C a u c c i a n d Nastasi, W h i t l o c k , a n d
Schwiebert. to n a m e a few. H e isastudent
of the natural history of both aquatic
insects (entomology) and fish (ichthyology) and probably knows a little about
fish culture and the physics of rod tapers.
I n short. he is. more sobhisticated about
his sport ( i n an absolute sense) than at
a n y o t h e r t i m e i n t h e history of i t s
development.
But h o w does this relate t o J o h n Harrington KeeneKeene, at his worst, was as
innovative as Marinaro. H e practiced
dry-fly fishing o n the Battenkill as early
a.r 1886, the same year Halford published
i n England his Floating Flies a n d H o w to
Dress T h e m and well before Theodore
Gordon's experiments o n the Beaverkill.
Keene fished w i t h terrestrial imitations
that employed jungle cock nail feathers
( a la Marinaro's Jassid); he tied corkbodied dry flies; he introduced Americans
to extended-body dry flies;* he had a good
working knowledge of aquatic natural
history; he fished small midges; and he
wrote about all t h i s i n t h e American
Angler (1885), the American Field (1889),
and in seueral books o n fly-tying and flyfishing. I n other words, this m a n began
telling t h e American angler about entom o l o g y and innovative fly-tying and
fishing techniques often associated w i t h
the late 1960s and 1970s, and he did it a
century ago!
Keene's contributions t o American flyfishing have never been fully recognized
by angling historians, nor did these contributions have m u c h of a n influence o n
his contemporary American fly fishers.
W h i l e Marinaro's Code was uery influential and is today considered a benchmark
of the beginning of a modern renaissance
for the gentle art, Keene's proclamations
evidently fell o n deaf ears and failed to
induce any revolutions or evolutions in
American fly-fishing. It is the intent of
this essay t o present to the readers of the
Wildwood's Magazine, a rare, shortliued sporting periodical that was
published by Fred Pond (pseud.,
W i l l Wildwood). N o t e that i n addition
to Keene's "Memoir" by Pond, t h f
issue contained an article by Keene
( " T h e Salmon," p. 265).
P R I C E , 20 C E N T S .
S D W ~ ~ O D
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.
OCTOBER, 1888.
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WILDW00D PUBhISHING COMPANY.
Cl4lCAGO: 166 L A S A b t l E S T R E E T .
: 251 BROADWAY.
NEW Y O R K~.
.
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CONTENTS:
rroo\i\piece- Pc~rrr.,it
of J o h n Harrington Keenc.
S c u l l ~ ~for
~ gMallards
l l l t ! ~ t r ; ~ l ~I<&,
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A Mernuir of J. Harrington Keenr . . . . . . . . ,
Aulu!lm Sports
A Poem. /iy /soc,l' ,lfr/.r/ic,n
.
f'r.l;nc Chicken Shooting. lllu\tr.ttrrl.
/<v Ra,rh/cr
A Floriila Cvun l i u n t . /iy/. .lX,rlitrrr.r .fl,rr hy
A,.,!.
,
r
o u r ~ a l n cF l \ h and Fnhinl:
,
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Nn V I
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,
American Fly Fisher a biography of J o h n
Harrington Keene and a n examination of
t h e w r i t i n g s of t h i s k n o w l e d g e a b l e ,
innovative fisherman.
.,
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GI I M I ' A N Y , 166 l.a Snllc St., Chaca~o,Ill,
Part I: The Biography
John Harrington Keene and his wife,
Anna, emigrated from England to the
United States in 1885. Within a year after
their arrival they settled in Manchester,
Vermont. An informative biographical
sketch o n Keene, written by Fred Pond
and published i n the October 1888 issue
of W i l d w o o d s Magazine,l gives many
details concerning Keene's life prior to
his coming to this country. Rather than
excerpt highlights from this memoir, I
have chosen to include it in its entirety,
with annotations. I caution readers that,
due to logistics, I have not been able to
check the reliability of all of the information contained in Pond's memoir. I note,
for example, that Keene was born o n
December 19, 1855 (to John and Rebecca
Sarah Keene), not in 1856 as stated by
Pond.2
J o h n H a r r i n g t o n Keene w a s
born at Weybridge, a pretty village
o n the Lower Thames, England, in
1856, and is consequently but 32
years of age, though the amount of
work a n d sport connected with
matters piscatorial he has accomplished, is out of all proportion to
his years. His fishing career may
almost be said to have been commenced in the cradle. H e was the
only son and close companion of
his father, a famous Thames professional fisherman, from his earliest years. Mr. Keene, Senior, who
q u i t e recently died at Windsor,
was, when the son was quite young,
chosen fisherman to Queen Victo-
ria, and presided over the magnificent preserves of Windsor Great
Park for fifteen years, where young
H a r r i n g t o n K e e n e b e c a m e acquainted with Buckland, Francis,
Manley, and a host of other patrician anglers, accompanying several of them to most of the best
fishing waters of Europe and the
British Isles, sometimes as a n
attendant, and at others as a personal friend.3
It is natural that a n ardent loveof
fishing and great natural powers of
observation should produce a writer o n fishing subjects. When but
sixteen, Mr. J. H. Keene began his
career with the pen, in the "Glob?
C h u r c h Strert, Weybrzdqe, Enqland
Kerne runs born zn Weybrzdqe zn 1855.
T h e p h o t o 1 7 from a poctcard ( c ~ r c a
and Traveler," a well known London evening paper, then edited by a
now famous physician, Dr. J. Martin Granville, and also contributed
sketches to "Once a Week," then
edited by G. Manville Fenn, the
well known novelist. Very soon followed copious contributions to
"Land and Water," " T h e Field,"
and the "Morning Advertiser," a
large daily sheet under the direct i o n of t h e a c c o m p l i s h e d C o l .
Alfred Bates Richards. About this
time also-though previously intended for commercial life-Mr.
Keene became assistant to his father and determinately pursued journalism and angling, natural history and authorship. By the time
Harrington Keene had reached the
mature age of twenty he had gathered material for his, as yet, magnum opus, "The Practical Fisherman." H e had fished for repeatedly
and caught every fish swimming in
British waters, and had compared
notes with the best fishermen of the
day. His chief angling friend at
that time was the late Rev. J. J.
Manley, an amiable and profoundly learned clergy man and author of
a charming work, "Notes o n Fish
a n d Fishing," which originally
appeared in the "Morning Advertiscr." alternatrlv with articles on
similar subjects from the pen of
Mr. Keene.
About this time Mr. Keene, pursuing his bent, left home a few
miles, and began business as a professional fisherman on theThames.
H e was successful beyond the average, as the son of such a "practical
fisherman" as his father, could
only be. About this time he had
contributed some especially inter-
esting notes o n the parasitic diseases of fish, (for Mr. Keene is a
microscopist, being then a member
of the chief microscopical societies)
to the now defunct English "Country," and became intimately known
to its manager, who also was part
owner and manager of the "Bazaar
Exchange and Mart." Recognizing
Mr. Keene's general journalistic
efficiency, h e was invited toedit the
"Country," and sub-edit the "Bazaar," on most liberal terms. T h i s
position he undertook and filled
satisfactorily for two years, after
which he retired in favor of more
original and congenial journalistic
work. During this term the "Practical Fisherman" was published in
the "Country," and subsequently
in volume form, receiving very cordial and distinct recognition from
the critics.5
Mr. Keene was at once thereafter
understood to be an authority on
fishing matters, and a real catalogue of his contributions to the
periodical press would fill more
spare than we can here afford. He,
with a printer namedoates, founded the present London "Fishing
Gazette."G H e compiled and edited
"Little's Angler's Annual," a n d
wrote multitudinously for all the
prominent papers and magazines.
Finally in 1884, for rest and genui n e recreation, h e accepted t h e
position of head fish-keeper o n
Lord Northbrook's portion of the
river Itchen -the premier British
trout stream. Whilst here he wrote
a long series of articles for boys in
the "Boys' O w n Paper," and his
recently published "Fishing Tackle; its Materials a n d M a n u f a c t ~ r e . "Finally
~
Mr. Keene decided
to visit this country, of which he
had formed enthusiastic visions,
( n o t yet broken, he tells us, by
unfulfilling reality), which he did
in 1885. Whilst here his father died
suddenly, and he not being available, the a p p o i n t m e n t passed to
other hands than his son's. T h e n
Harrington Keene decided to make
his home among us, and being an
expert in all kinds of tackle manufacture as well as a n expert with the
pen, he wrote "Fly Fishing and Fly
M a k i n g for Trout," (0.J u d d &
Co.,) a n d finally engaged i n fly
m a k i n g for t h e benefit of t h e
numerous admirers of his books
and talents.8 Until quite recently
he has been associated with C. F.
Orvis, but has now removed to the
banks of the lovely bass lakeCossayuna, Washington county,
N.Y., where h e proposes to cornplete many a chef d'ouvre of the
piscatorial writer's and fly maker's
art, amidst congenial surroundings.
Mr. Keene is president of the
flourishing Greenwich a n d Cossayuna Game and Fish Protection
Club, of Greenwich, N.Y., and is at
present deeply engaged on a new
work, especially designed to aid the
purely amateur angler, which will
be published early next spring by
the enterprising publishing firm,
Nims & Knight, of Troy, N.Y.9
Based o n Pond's remarks and the material subsequently published by Keene, I
think it is fair to say that he was well
schooled in all matters piscatorial and
was probably well acquainted not only
with Francis, Buckland, and Manley, but
also with Halford, Ogden, and others
intimately associated with the develop-
THE
AMERICAN ANGLER.
A WEEKLY JOUIINAL OF FISH AND FISHING.
-TEKREE DOLLARS A YEAR.
BINOLE COPIES. TEN CENTB.
-
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1886.
1
1-
VOLUME VIIL, NUMBER 3.
OFFICE, 1 5 1 BROADWAY.
-
Masthrad of J4'zllzam C Harrzs'r A m e r ~ c a nAngler Keene'sserzes, mtztled "Hour to Makr Trout Flzes,"
commenced zn theSaturday, July 18, 1885, 7ssue(7~01.8, no. 3). T o our knowledge, thzs rerzer constztut~d
thr firrt tzmr that znrtructzonr for tyznq dry flzrs wrre mer offerrd to the Amerzcan anglznqpublzr.
ment of dry-fly techniques o n British
trout waters. But marc about this later.
Pond states that Keene arrived i n this
country i n 1885 and shortly thereafter
associated himself with Charles F. Orvis
in Manchester, Vermont. I t h i n k this
information is probably correct. Keene
published twenty articles in William C.
H a r r i s ' s A m r r i c a ~ zAng1r.r i n 1885.1°
Although Keene could have sent these
articles to Harris from England, more
likely, he was in the LJnited States at the
time. Unfortunately, n o datelines were
printed with these articles that would
establish for u s Keene's place of residence. I n 1886 Keene published a series of
three articles o n English bait-casting in
the American Angler. l 1 Again, n o dateline is given, nor does the text indicate
Keene's whereabouts. But in the March
20, 1886, issue of the American Angler,
two short paragraphs appear (Notes &
Queries Section ) that relate to his casting
articles. Here, Keene mentions that he
has had a "Changeof residence ...." Keene
also says, in the J u n e 26 issue of the
American Angler, that he ate his lunch
"on the banks of the Ondawa which runs
through the vale of content in which I
live." T h e Ondawa is the Indian name
given t o t h e B a t t e n k i l l , w h i c h r u n s
through Manchester, Vermont. In 1887 at
least ten articles by Keene were published
in the American Firld, all with a dateline
giving Manchester, Vermont, as Keene's
place of residence.12 I would guess that
Keene and his wife lived in the environs
of New York City in 1885 where he probably first met Harris (theAmerican Angler
was published there), and that he moved
to Manchester i n January or February of
1886 (the change of residence referred to
earlier).I3
It is not hard to imagine why Keene
chose Manchester, Vermont, as his place
of residence. Manchester, i n 1885, was a
resort t o w n of s o m e n o t e . F r a n k l i n
Orvis's prosperous Equinox Hotel was
filled by well-to-do tourists from New
York and Boston w h o had come to revel
in the rural charm of this quaint New
E n g l a n d village. Also, by this time,
Charles F. Orvis's tackle business, established i n 1856, was flourishing. By 1885
he had acquired a national reputation as
a manufacturer of good quality rods,
reels, and flies. His tackle included the
now-famous narrow-spool fly-reel with
perforated side plates, and cane flyrods
equipped with Eggleston's patented,
spring-locking reel seat. I n 1876, C. F.
Orvis tackle received a gold medal a t the
Philadelphia International Exhibition.
Orvis's reputation as a n important tackle
manufacturer was further enhanced with
the publication of Fishing with the Fly
(1883), which heco-edited with A. Nelson
Cheney.14 What better spot could Keene
have chosen to reside in? Here, he could
hob-nob with the affluent tourist crowd;
as an associate of Orvis. he could continue his career as professional writer, fly
fisher, and fly tier; and hecould spend his
leisure hours pursuing the trout o n the
Battenkill.
Evidence of Keene's enchantment with
his new surroundings can be found in the
August 7, 1886, issue of the American
Angler15 i n a letter (reprinted by Harris)
that he had sent to the British publication, Land and Water.
As I said above, I a m w r i t i n g
from the old Yankee State of Vermont, a n d i n a village which reminds m e of n o t h i n g so much as
t h e b e a u t i f u l t o w n of M a l v e r n
(Worcestershire), except that Malvern h a s n o s t r e a m r u n n i n g
through it, a n d this has. Here is a
genuine mountain stream, born of
the mighty Equinox, and the trout
are i n thousands, w i t h n o n e to
catch them, save villagers a n d a few
summer visitors. And these same
trout are of very respectable size,
unlike the generality of mountain
fish-that is, going u p to one and
one-half pounds, pretty frequently.
T h e r e is n o need to conceal its
name, it is the 'lovely' Ondawa in
the language of the Indians, a n d
Battenkill in the uncouth vernacular of the settlers. Ondawa let it be.
It is rapid and clear, shallow and
deep, i n alternation; n o w garrulous with mimic fury, now making
'sweet m u s i c w i t h the' enameled
stones.' B u t stay; S h a k e s p e a r e ' s
words remind m e that a poeticallyinclined friend has already apostrophised 'Ondawa' in strains
which all will agree rival anything
'1e immortel Williams' could have
writ. Pardon me, all-patient Editor, if I reproduce them as a valedictory tailpiece to this, my very
discursive letter.
ONDAWA
T h e high and massy mountains
roll along,
Wave-like, beside thee, dressed
in living green,
Whilst giant Equinox-a parent
strong
Of myriad rivulets, with royal
mien,
Head-gray is cloud-o'er
shades the daedal scene.
T h r o u g h dells and grots, through
festooned dreaming woods.
T h o u boundest, glad of heart,
in child-like glee
Mid plains of emerald, or
solitudes,
rI.l H E
>
Q
=
+- -
Dark with crag, or from the
canopy
Of leafy mysteryr thou hastest,
wild and free.
THIRTY-TWO PAGES.
\
@- O-.
curl,
Leaps the bejeweled trout. Then
richer far
T h a n Ophir's mine of gold art
thou, oh Ondawa!
And from thy limpid deeps, or
riffles whirl,
O r the translucent eddy's oily
not feeding on the natural insect. If
there are not some flies to be seen
about, depend upon it the fish are
after some kind of food they do see,
something in the water. Then try
'wums.'
There is no use whipping the
water with flies when the fish are
YO
TROUT-FLIES MADE WITH am BODIES AND SCALE WINGS.
prarar. ~$2.00
pra DOZENWe make these flies zs a novelty, but doubt if they will ever lake the place of the feathered flies, the use of~vhich
for s e v c d hundred years har proved their thorough efficiency.
They are dose imitations of natural insects, and are extremely durable; although delicate in appearance they are
to
practnelly indestructible. The wings are too tough to be torn, yet when in the water become pliable and
the tish no reststance, as do the quill w n g and other wings of a sim~larcharacter heretofore offered as a substitute
for feathen.
We print an extract from a letter published, not long ago, in
THEFISHING
GAZETTE,headed.-
"b4,lTbRIAL FOR W I N ( ; S OF ARTIFICIAL FLIES."
Wkot ir rrolly ~ t ~ r r r r c dsi rst,brfancr which ronrbincr fhc fiyYntss and brroya.ry of fhr ftafhrr in
tdc a b or wclf arrn f k wofrr,
~
with the fou,hntss m d p m r to rrtain if5 d u p e of fht qurlf. fqqtfhn w ~ f rke
k $1;~brlrfy.Ir*nrfiarmcy and trtfurr of tkr yofd brofrr'r ~ k z n and
.
the prnpnfy of briny rasrly staznrd or dyed, and t k : ~
*mafntol,nrfar as Iknmu, horyrf lo bc dtsrmrcrcd."-HIITERN.
..
\Ve afier the scale wing (not api.6t.scale ring) as the discovery which meets all the requirements mentioned in
the abobr letter.
. ----- .-.- Wc suggest the following as the most desirable to be made with Gut Bodies and Scale Wings :Hrown CoHin.
Deer Fly.
Gauze Wing.
Red Fox.
lllatk Ant.
Emenld Gnat.
Hoskins.
Red Spinner.
l;!a:k bnat.
Emerald 1)un.
Haa thorn.
Stone Fly.
lcluc Dun.
Fiery Ilrown.
Morrison.
Scarlet I his.
Cl.lrct.
Green 1)rake.
Orangc I3lack.
Solrlier.
CI,~
Uunc.
(;try 1)rakc.
I'alc Eveninx Dun.
Yellow hlay.
.
~
11.11:S \V1'l'11 CORK I1OL)II:S, FI.OATIS(; hli\Y-FI.IES, CADDIS.FI,II.S .\sL)
I'I,IES. M A ~ ETO O n n ~ n ass
.
S I Z E D E S I I ~ E D$2.50
,
PER I)()zI<s.
c]~c'(I.
17
A d i ~ c t ~ u of
n l Tru lrrr rcnt. lrnm list prices of FLIESwill be made on orders of SIX dolrl, ,,r ,,rr.r, .,,,,I
I i v ~\ I Y IIC'T t.e"t. on oxlrr. vf 1wnl.ve dozen or over.
-1
Copy from page twrnty-six of C. F. 0 n l i . s ' ~sixteenth catalog (circa 1889).
Thrsr .so-callrd "~7or~rlty"
f1ie.v are unqur.stionably the crealion.~of
J o h n Harrirzglon Keene.
I
T h e nature of Keene's association with
Charles F. Orvis is not completely clear.
O n page twenty-six of Orvis's sixteenth
catalog (circa 1889) trout flies made with
gut bodies and scale wings, as well as flies
with cork bodies, floating mayflies, caddis flies and cisco flies are offered for sale
(see i l l ~ s t r a t i o n )These
. ~ ~ are the flies of
John Harrington Keene, the same flies
that were described in .great detail in the
series of articles he published in the
American Anglrr in 1885 and in the
American Field in 1887 (vide ante). O n
page thirty-one of the samr catalog, fifty
patterns of salmon flies were advertised,
all of them English patterns. Evidently,
Keene supported himself during his stay
in Manchester by supplying Orvis with
his highly innovative trout-fly imitations, probably with the salmon flies too.
Keene also obtained additional funds by
functioning as a correspondent to the
more popular American sporting periodicals and to some British publications.17
Pond, in his memoir of October 1888,
states that Keene had recently relocated
his residence to the shore of Cossayuna
Lake in southern Washington County,
New York.lR My supposition is that he
moved because he had a falling-out with
Orvis. A l t h o u g h Orvis was a strong
believer in the imitation theory,lgI don't
think h e had m u c h faith in Keene's
"Exact-imitation flies" or the dry-fly
methods that Keene espoused. For example, see the accompanying illustration
JOHN HARRlNGTON KEENE,
Author of Fly Fishing and Fly Making, Etc., Etc., Etc.,
Artist in All Kinds of t h e
pinext m ~ t i f i e i aP
l lies
anb p l y - @ s h i n g
pu~es.
S I ~ E ~ : I A I . T I EStandard
R - - I ~ ~ Patter~ls.
~
Exact I~nitrrtionsof American insect^. in Feather,
Fur, Silk. ( J r i i l l , 1Ior.c II:tir, Itubber, Scale, Etc.. Etc. Thc New 1nterchange~I)le Raee,
Sal~llolland Tro~ltI.'ly. The Water I'roof-Winged Fly. Salmon Flies Made to Order. Every
llook nr~dSi~ellTcnted slid (;urrruntc:cd.
GREENWICH, N.Y
-
KrrnrS.saCI~~rrli.srni~~i1
lhal appmrrd in tlrr 1894 rdition of thr Directory of Grcrnwich.
Notr that Irr toitt.~"Esacl In7itation.s of Amrrican In.tcc~.s...."
from t h e Orvis catalog (circa 1889) i n
which the following statement is made:
We make these flies as a novclty,
but doubt if they will ever take the
place of feathered flies, the use of
which for several hundred years
has proved their thorough efficiency.
I s u r m i s e t h a t Keene n o t o n l y took
umbrage at this statement but also at not
being given any credit whatsoever for his
innovative flies, either in this catalog o r
in other Orvis advertisements.
I would also surmise that Keene's flies
didn't sell very well. T h e unsophisticated, native brook trout would take just
about any fly, and the gaudy, tinseled
attractor flies not only were less expensive t h a n Keene's creations, b u t very
likely were more attractive to and more
p o p u l a r with the Victorian angler.
Indeed, Keene as much as admits this in
the previously mentioned copy that he
sent to Land and Watrr reprinted in the
American Anglrr in 1886.
What chiefly impressed m e regarding trout fishing [in the I J n i ted States] were the two facts that
large flies u p to No. 9 Sproat, and
fishing down stream, were de rigeur. T h e floating fly is practically
unknown, and u p stream fishing
therefore an occult art, the mcre
mention of which is sufficient to
bring forth a smile of kindly contempt. Yet the brook trout here are
easily taken by the means employed. Here it is a charr [sic]-as
the latest dictum of the ichthyologists sets forth-and not a trout at
all, being but S a l m o fontinalis,
and its voracity is great. Probably
w h e n i t h a s been fished over
through hundreds of years by a
crowded population the necessity
for very light tackle will arise. At
present the generality of tackle here
is light only as regards the rod.
If, as I suspect, Keene badgered Orvis to
tout his flies more effectively and to give
him credit for his innovative contributions, O r v i s w o u l d have most likely
refused, a n d a parting of ways would
have followed. Speculative, obviouslybut I n o t e i n Mary O r v i s Marbury's
Fauoritr Flies (1892) the following passages o n page 382. These remarks accompany a plate of F. M. Halford's dry flies.
Some time ago, in the English
"Fishing Gazette," a correspond e n t s i g n i n g himself "Bittern"
wrote as follows:
What is really requirrd for the
w i n g s of artificial flirs is a substancr which combinr.~the lightness and buoyancy of thr feather in
t h air
~ a~wrll as i n the water zuith
thr toughness and powrr to rrtain
the shapr of the q u i l l , togrthrr
with the pliability, transpar~ncy,
and trxturr of the gold-beater's
skin, and thc proprrty of bring pasily stainrd or dyrd, and this material, .so far as I know, has yet to be
discoztrrrd.
Later, it was found that theinner
membrane of the scales of theshad,
red-snapper, and other fish was a
beautiful substance nearly answeri n g this description. Flies made
with wings of this membrane are
extremely durable and lifelike in
appearance; the wings are too
tough to be torn, but in the water
become pliable and offer to the fish
n o resistance; yet, attractive as they
appear, they have not proved very
p o p u l a r with fishermen, o w i n g
chiefly, we think, to a slight rustling noise they make when cast
through the air. It is doubtful if
this s o u n d is really any serious
objection to these flies, but it seems
to have been a fault that has prevented their extended use.
Keene himself had discovered the inner
membrane of the scales of fish could be
used as wings for dry flies, yet Marbury
(Charles F. Orvis's daughter) failed to
give him due credit. Further, mention of
Keene's n a m e is conspicuously absent
from her book. She must have known
about Keene's articles in the American
Anglrr and theAmrrican Field and about
his book, Fly Fishing and Fly Making-20
T o p : Frontispiece from American Game Fishes (1892) edited
by G. 0. Shields. T h e dressings for the flies aregiuen in a
chapter of the book titled "Fishing Tackle and How to Make
It" by J o h n Harrington Keene.
Above right: More of Keene's flies from the same work
I
Left: Couer of the third edition of Keene's Fly-Fishing and
Fly-Making (1898). T h e book contains two pages of
tipped-in fly-ty ing materials-hackles, wing materials,
floss, etc.
A contemporary photopraph of J o h n Harrzngton Keene's rerzdence at
9 J o h n Street, Greenwzch, New York. Keene re~zdedthere for at least
two yearr (1892 to 1894).
all of which exhaustively discuss his
innovative fly-tying techniques, his dry
flies, and his exact-imitation theory. Yet,
in all of her discussions of the floating fly
(albeit brief), only the names of Pritt and
Halford appear. Surely Orvis and Keene
must have had a bitter di~a,greement.~'
22
H o w long Keene lived o n the shore of
Cossayuna Lake, I'm not sure; by 1892 he
was listed in the Directory of Greenwich
as a fishing-tackle maker living at 9 John
Street in Greenwich, New York.Z3 Elsewhere in the same directory, it is noted
that Keene published a newspaper called
the Graphologist o n the fifteenth of every
month (graphology is the study of handwriting). I n the 1894 directory the same
address is given, and he has a n advertisement for his flies a n d lures (see illustration). Additional information o n Keene
during this period can be found o n page
fourteen of Islay V. H . Gill's History and
Directory of Cossayuna and V i c i n i t y
(1957).
...J. Harrington Keene, an English
man, graphologist and expert tyer
[sic] of artificial flies. H e lived in
the village for a time and employed
a few women i n themakingof flies.
H e was a boon companion of that
early s m a l l g r o u p of dedicated
fishermen who always had a jug in
the boat for live bait.
T h e Greenwich directories were not
published after 1894; according to the
Federal Census of 1900, however, Keene
had left the Greenwich area by then. We
pick u p his trail next in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1896 he published a book o n
g r a p h o l o g y , e n t i t l e d t h e Mystery of
Handwriting, and in the preface he gives
this address: 712 Equitable Building, Baltimore, Maryland. A Baltimore directory
lists Keene as a reporter living at 2723
Parkwood Avenue (see illustration), Baltimore in 1897. N o listing was found for
1898. Evidently, Keene worked as areporter o u t of a n office at the prestigious
Equitable Building, but I was unable to
ascertain t h e n a m e of t h e f i r m t h a t
employed him. Keene's reasons for movi n g to Baltimore are obscure. Perhaps,
without a national outlet for his flies (i.e.
the Orvis Company), h e was unable to
make a success of his tackle business. So
he took a job as a reporter in Baltimorebut why Baltimore? James Keene, a lawyer, is listed in the Baltimore directory in
Keene lzz~edat 2723 Parkwood
Az~enup,Baltzmore, Mary land, zn
1896 and 1897. A Baltzmore czty
directory 11st.rKemr's orrubatzon as
1897-a relative, perhaps?
Material obtained from thesurrogate's
Court, County of Queens, New Y ~ r k , ~ ~
indicates that Keene and his wife moved
to R i c h m o n d Hill, L o n g Island, New
York, sometime i n 1897. I n 1900 their
address is listed as 3410 Fulton Street,24a
rented house, and in a n advertisement for
fly-tying material that appeared o n page
sixty-seven in a March-April 1902Field iL.
Stream, the Keene address is listed as
follows:
WANTED.-Feathers for fly-tying;
brown-hackles from g a m e a n d
brown Leghorn roosters, wild male
turkey tail and wing feathers, pink
curlew, w o o d d u c k , p l a i n a n d
barred; blue jay wings, crow wings,
etc. Address J. H . Keene, Richmond Hill, L o n g Island, N.Y.
In that same year he published two articles in Outing:25 "Practical Fishing"
(vol. 36, p. 367) and "Making of the Artificial Fly" (vol. 36, p. 634). These were
rehashes of his earlier articles and to my
k n o w l e d g e were h i s last p u b l i s h e d
works.** By 1904, Keene and his wife had
relocated to a house o n Lincoln Avenue,
near Orchard Avenue, in R i c h m o n d
Hi11,26 and there is evidence indicating
that sometime between 1902 and 1904
they moved to Winstead, Connecticut, for
a brief period of time and Keene managed
a countrv c1ub.Z3But after this. I can find
n o evidence of Keene's whereabouts. His
once prolific pen seems to have stopped.
T h e disappearance of Keene's articles
from the pages of American sporting
periodicals is very puzzling indeed. H e
was, after all, an expert in the manufacture of and fishing with the dry fly-and
a good writer as well. By 1904 the American fly fisher had begun to recognize and
accept upstream fishing with floating
flies as a n extremely effective angling
method, especially for the highly selective and rather recently imported brown
trout. Conditions could not have been
more perfect for the reintroduction of the
innovative fly-tying techniques and fishi n e methods that he had tried to introduce to the American angling public
almost twenty years prior. Yet, from
Keene t h e r e was silence-a mystery
indeed, until we read his obituary o n
page 900 in Forest a n d S t r e a m in 1907
(vol. 68, no. 23), which states that he had
been ill for the previous five years.
Death of John Harrington Keene
John Harrington Keene, of Floral Park, L.I., who was prominent
as a n authoritative and entertaini n g writer o n angling, died recently
in a sanitarium in Bellows Falls
[actually, i n Brattleboro], Vt.,
where he went a l i ~ t l eover a month
ago hoping to gain relief from the
ENDNOTES:
1. Wilduioods Mngarinr, an illustrated
monthly, was owned, edited, and published
by Fred E. Pond (Will Wildwood). Vol. 1,
no. 1, was issued in May 1888. It sold for
twenty cents per issue. T h e publication was
short lived. It ran until April 1889, when
according to the Union Ltst of Srrials its
name was changed to Rrcrmtion. lircrration is believed to have ceased publication
in June of 1889.
2. Baptismal records for the town of
Weybridge, England (1855).
3. Keene's father died in September 1885.
An obituary appeared in the September 12,
1885, issue of the Standnrd. "John Keen
[sic], the Queen's fisherman, died on
Thursday, at his house, the Flying Barn,
Virginia Water." H e was fisherman to
Queen Victoria at Wintlsor [I-om 1864 until
his death.
4. Francis Trevelyan Buckland wrote
Curiositir.~of Nnturnl Hi.~lory(1857 and
several later editions). T h r Log-book of n
Fishrrmnn and Zoologist (1875), and T h r
Naturnl History of British Fi.shet (1881);
Francis Francis was angling editor of Firld
trout and American trout streams.
And yet, after the death of Wm. C.
Harris, he was perhaps the ablest
writer o n fly-fishing in America.
Certainly his memory will long be
cherished by the fraternity, the better, perhaps, when it is remembered that, though lacking the
heart interest which he left behind
in his native land, his writings
were still at the time of his death
the best that could be read in
America.
illness from which he suffered for
the last five years.
Mr. Keene was a n Englishman,
and to this is attributed the fact that
he never received the appreciation
that his work deserved. Not that an
Englishman may not be honored
in America, but because his writings were colored, perhaps, by too
frequent reference to angling methods in Great Britain, where conditions are widelv different from
those met with o n this continent.
H e began to make artificial flies in
England in 1865. His best works
probably were, "Fly-Fishing and
Fly Making" and "Fishing Tackle,
Its Materials and Manufacture."
T h e former, a handsome little
volume, contains a deal of hand
work, done by the author, who was
a n adept at fly tying. T h i s was one
of the first books of its kind to be
published in America. It was published by the Forest and Stream
Publishing Company [the first edition was published by Judd] and
ran through several editions. H e
also wrote "The Angler's Complete G u i d e a n d Companion,"
"The Practical Fisherman," and
hundreds of magazine articles. H e
was a man of good address, as
might be judged from his writings,
and had many warm friends among
those, anglers a n d others, with
w h o m he was thrown. O n the
stream he was apatient and skillful
angler, but it is said by the few who
knew him well that he never quite
became reconciled to American
T h i s would explain his lack of productivity between 1902 and his death. Keene
was admitted to theBrattleboro Retreat,27
Brattleboro, Vermont (not Bellows Falls,
as stated in the obituary), on March 28,
1907. H e died there, a pauper, o n May 5,
1907. T h e chief cause of death, as listed
o n the death certificate, was cerebral
hemorrhage. T h e contributing causes
were left unstated (see illustration). However, Keene had been diagnosed as having
sy philis,28 a highly contagious disease for
which there was really n o cure in 1907. In
Keene the disease had reached the tertiary
stage, when severe damage to the central
nervous system occurs. Hallucinations,
bizarre behavior, and blindness are common symptoms of the final stage. T o
compound matters, Keene evidently had
also developed alcoholism. It seems logical to assume that his excessive drinking
was in response to a long bout (at least
five years) with this painful and debilitating disease-and the disillusionment of
failing to be adequately recognized for
his contributions to the development of
American fly-fishing must have under-
and among his books are the classic Rook
on Angling (1867 and several later editions),
By Lnkr and Ri-orr (1874),Angling (1877),
Hot Pot (1880), Sporting Sketc1ze.s with P m
and Prncil (with A. W. Cooper), and FishCulture (1863); John Jackson Manley wrote
Notes on Fish and Fishing (1877).
5. It was published in London in book
form in 1881.
6. Pond must be referring to tht, "new
series" of the Fishing Gazette that started in
1877. Keene would have been only ten years
old when the old series was first published.
7. Fishing Tacklr, Its Mnterinls nnd
Mnnufacturr was published in both London
and New York in 1886.
8. Fly Fishing and Fly Making was
published in 1887. A second edition
appeared in 1891, anti a third edition was
published in 1898.
9. Perhaps this is a reference to the Boys
O w n Guidr to Fishins that Keene published
in 1894. It is interesting to note that the title
page of Fly Fishing and Fly Mnking lists
the Atzglrr's Complrtr Guidr and
Compnnion as one of Keene's works. I
found no evident-e that indicates Keene
published a book with this title (see
National Cinton Catnlog and Bruns's
Angling Books of thr Americas, p. 253).
10. T h e first article appeared in the
March 28 issue (vol. 7, no. 13, p. 199) and
the last in the December 26 issue (vol. 8, no.
26, p. 402). Harris established the American
Anglrr in 1881 as a weekly publication (vol.
1 , no. 1, was issued on Sunday, October 15
of that year).
11. Amrricnn Anglrr (1886), vol. 9, no. 4,
p. 49; vol. 9, no. 5, p. 69; and vol. 9, no. 6,
p. 81.
12. T h e first article was published in vol.
27, no. 12, p. 270, and the last one I found
was in vol. 27, no. 25, p. 598. According to
Austin Hogan's Amrrican Sporting Prriodicnls, Amrrican Firld has the following
history: "1874-75 as Firld nnd Stream; 187576 as Firld; 1877-81 [sic, but should read
1878 to 1881] as CIticngo Firld; and from
1881 on as Amrrtcan Firld. I was unable to
peruse the complete year; other articles may
have appeared in subsequent issues of the
1887 Amrrican Firld.
13. Ilnfortunately, street directories or
local census material, which would establish
the location of Keene's residence in
Manchester, are not available.
---
-
CERTIFICATE OF DEATH.
v
NO.-^-
STATE O F V E R M O N T .
Street and No.,
I
.-
~LVL~A~~TATISTIC~I.
I "
SI.
.
-,*/&?2&
i
Stnplc. hlrrrtrd,
-a.,,l,.xcdor ulvorc:d
g
;
;
z
E
7""+'-;
.
-
Name
<
&L
I(.
r..u,,
&,lh
-Month
Day-
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,-
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s ,,,,!
-~
g5&,
P
-
h'lmr of Frlhrr
--
WL!F
-
%?f.
d
i
e
190
that I last saw &alive
-
p
-
0-
2-
hat 1 a
-
l-e=r.
l
c
~
O
z
ndcd deceased from
7, z y J
to
;goy,
on
d~<90Ts
on thc(dnte stated above at
z
rnrrrlnl
_L&&L'!
CALlSE OF 1)t:liTII.
$ 5 ~~z>,2ruc?>ons
c ~ nl h c k
I
u A ~ L &
&lm4,/~-
of Molhcr
i-
&T-
A &J~- i , -
--
Btrlhplrce of hlolher
(statew m n t T .
ceni y,
-
AT I>XATII
. - -
To t h e best of m y knotvled~eand belief the cause of
Hlrlbplrcc of Fathrr
IS!r!c or coumr71
.Ha,den a.m,
Day
I hereby
country\
Name of buqbmci or
-
of ,I,,,,
>:"nth
Mar.
.
.
I'AI(TICI'
x',:7L;/;fi1.LCd_
~
! s ~ z t cor
/rki.
--
Conlrillulln~
-.-
-.
The above stated. per&pxticulars
are true to the
best of my knowledce and b e l r f .
Acldrers
T , , , I : . ! I . , ., ..,,1, I . .
,,
U,,,,:I."r,,I/~.ili.,
_
_-=- - .L
ISae ~ b t h f ru d *
I
11,. ~ u t t 1 .c ~ r n ~ x n l'r
u . mw;. Bulhnd. v t U ~ + 1 .
J.H.K'.v d ~ n l l tcertjficnlr. PIn(.r of 1114rinli s li.strd as Co?tcord, Mns.snc1tusct~.s
(Afny 1 5 , 1907). IIJc could fi?tr/ ?to olltcr rcc.ord o ] 1ri.s bring Ouricrl llrcrr,
,tor urc.rr zcrc nhlc t o locntc 1ti.s clc.11~nlO~trirrl.sit(,.
14. For an excrllent history of thr Orvis
company, see T h r O n ~ i Story
s
(1980) Ily
Austin Hogan and Paul Schr~llery.
15. Vol. 10, no. 6, p. 86.
16. T h e inclusion of Kemcs's flirs in the
Orvis catalog strongly suggcsts that thr
catalog was printetl after 1x85. A loose form
letter datrd 1889 was fount1 in a copy o f the
catalog examinrd I,y Melnrr and Krsslrr (see
Grrat Fis1riri.q Tnrklr Cnln1o.q.~((1972).
17. Amrricntt /1rtglrr, Amrrirnn Firld,
and Land and IVntrr (British) havr alrr;~tly
been mrntionrd; n o tloubt thercs wrrr othrrs.
18. Cossayi~naLake is locatrd in thc
towns of Ar~gyle;~ntlGreenwich. ( T h r latter,
near the Vermont-New York border, is
downstream o n thr Rattenkill from Manchester.
19. See, for ex;~ml,lr.Orvis's Irttrr- t o the
rditor, Am~ricnn/frtglrr (I886), vol. 9, no.
21. p. 324.
20. T h r book h;~tlh e n throngh two
cditions by the timr Marbury ~ , ~ ~ b l i s l i r t l
Fnr~oritrF1ir.s.
21. In 1901 Krrne wrote " T h e Fishing
Reel ant1 its Drvrlol)ment," ;In :~rticlrfor
the Sportir~g(;oods Ilralrr (Srl)trrnl)rr, 1).
8). Nowhrrr in the text docs thr n a m r Orvis
alqxar. Touch(.!
22. It is curious then to find that in the
srcontl (1891) and third (1898) edition of Fly
Fishing nrzd Fly Making Krrne recommrnds
Orvis rotls; his favorite was a six-strip cane
modrl, tcn feet in length, with the patented
Egglrston reel srat. Rut this can be easily
r;~tionnlizrd.It was probably too costly to
rrsrt tlir type for these I;rtrr editions, s o
Keme h;~tlto live with the pronouncemmts
Iir m;ltlr in the first rdition (1887)-when hc
;~ntlOrvis were o n good trrms.
23. According to prtitions o n filr at thr
Surrog;~tc-'sCourt (Qurcns C:ounry, Nrw
York) rcblating to thr will of Keene's wifr.
John Harrington Krcnr brrame a naturalizrtl
ritizrn in 1892. These pc.titions contain
iml,orr;~nt I)io~gg-raphicalinformation.
2.1. Fctlcral Crnsus. Ncw York. vol. 217,
I.:nurnrr;~tion District 677. shrrt 27. linr 63.
Kcrnr ;mtl his wifr are lisrrd as naturalized
citizrns th:tt i m m i ~ ~ : ~ tinr d1885, coultl rrad.
writr. ;md speak English. ;nld hat1 n o
chiltlrrn. 'I'hry hat1 o n r I,o;~rdrr. Edwin R.
Drc-krr (;I school tr;~c-her).Kcrnr's occul~rttion
is givrri ;I$ handwriting rxl,rrt.
2.5. Oirlir~gran from 188210 1923. It was
;I sporting miscrll;~nyrh;~r;~c.trrizecl
by short
mined his confidence and weakened his
defenses for coping.
Keene was never a man of means,Zgand
the debilitating effects of his disease were
severe enough to dramatically interfere
with his earning a living as a writer, flytier, o r graphologist, so it is not surprisi n g that he died a poor man. Further, if
one interprets Gill's remark (uide ante)
about Keene being a fisherman "who
always had a jug in the boat for livebait"
to be a euphemism for a problem with
alcohol, then his nomadic existence, his
unsuccessful business endeavors, a n d
perhaps even his lack of impact o n the
American a n g l i n g scene is a t o n c e
comprehensible.
It is unclear why Keene chose to be
admitted to theBrattleboro Retreat rather
than to a local hospital in the Richmond
Hill area. Another puzzling matter is that
his death certificate indicates that he was
buried o n May 15, 1907, in Concord,
Massachusetts. I could find no record of
Keene being buried there, and if he was,
the reason is hard to fathom (unless, perhaps, relativt-s lived there).
So there you have it; the tragic tale of a
gentleman, w h o rightfully should be
revered as the father of the floating-fly in
these United States. H e was probably
more knowledgeable than Uncle T h a d
Norris, and most assuredly more innovative than the renowned Theodore Gordon. A bit later in time, and under more
favorable circumstances, he would certainly have revolutionized the sport.30
In Part I1 of this endeavor, it is my
intent to closrly examine the writings of
John Harrington Keene and to present a
checklist of his angling publications. tj
articles th;~tlac-krd depth.
26. Tronls Rurirtrss Dirrctory.
27. T h e Rrattlehoro Retrrat was rstal,lished in 1834 ant1 recently ol)scrvrd its one
hundrrd fiftieth anniversary.
28. T h i s infor~nationwas obtainrd from
Mona Rearh of the Rrattlrlmro R e t r e ; ~ ~ .
29. I don't think Keenc cvrr ownrtl his
own home. T o my knowledge his name does
not appear o n any of the tlrrds associ;~trd
with his various residences.
30. Kernr's wifr tlird pennilrss o n
Frbruary 24, 1932. According to an
;~tlvertisrmrntin thr C h r i s t ~ n issur
; ~ ~ of the
1916 Antrrira~iil rtglrr (Reed's Anzrrirnn
/Inglrr. 1916 to 19'21). Mrs. Kernr tirtl ; ~ n d
soltl bass. trout. ; ~ n dsalmon flirs. H r r
;~dtiressw;~sgivcn as Querns. Long Island.
Nrw York.
*Note, ;ltltlc*din ~)rool':
'I'll(. lir\t t l ( * \ c - ~il)tion
o f :In c~stc~~~tlt~tl-l)otl\
1):1twr11for : \ ~ i i t . t ic-;in
;rnglrt-5 c-;irl I)(, l o ~ ~ nin
t l K r t h ~ ~ n t ,1x17
'r
t.tIition of t l ~ t(,; I I I ? I / ) / I , / ( , ,.l?r,ql(,~-.
**Yotc : ~ ( l t l t ~inl 1)rool': 1 rr( t.ntl\ (li\c~ovc~rr(l
III;II Kt~c*nc,
;tt~tIior(~tl
:I t 11:1l)tt,1o r 1 li4ii1ig t:tt.kI('
in ( ; r i ~ t . s ,: I I I I I I I ~ I I I I ~ I I I I ~(I?!(/
.
7'f1(/:1(~
(I!bOl)-:t
l)ook III;II I V ; I ~ 1):1rt 01 (;LI\~)(T
\\'II~III~,Y'\
,\mc.~~ ( . ; I I I S ~ ) ~ I I \ I I I I.iI)r;~r\
; I I ~ ' \ \(.ri(a\.
Watercolor renderings of a male (top)
and female (bottom) Lahontan
cutthroat trout, Salmo clarki henshawi,
painted by Charles Bradford Hudson in
1904. Hudson (1865 to 1939) was
employed as an illustrator for many
years by the Smithsonian Institution
and the Bureau of Fisheries. David
Starr Jordon once referred to h i m as
the world's greatest painter of fish.
Hudson was also well known as a
landscape painter, an etcher, an author,
and an illustrator for some popular
magazines. T h e trout sfiecimens he
used for these paintings were taken
from Lake Tahoe. T h e paintings are
currently i n the collection of the
Smithsonian Institution.
Map of Nevada that shows the
location of Pyramid Lake.
T h e lake is approximately forty
miles northeast of Reno.
Pyramid Lake and its Cutthroat Trout
by Robert J. Behnke
r 1 Pyramid
Lake and its giant cutthroat trout have been the subject
1
,
of numerous magazine articles.
Many of these articles are characterized by misinformation a n d
h y p e r b o l e . T h e t r u e s t o r y of
Pyramid Lake, its enormous cutthroat trout, and their fate is indeed fascinating, but requires n o fanciful embellishments. It is the intent of this endeavor
to right some obvious wrongs and clear
u p any misconceptions concerning this
extraordinary fishery.
T h e Great Basin of the western United
States encompasses a large region south
of t h e C o l u m b i a R i v e r d r a i n a g e i n
Oregon, west a n d north of the Colorado
River basin of Utah and Nevada, and east
of t h e S i e r r a Nevada of C a l i f o r n i a .
Within this region, streams r u n from the
mountains out onto the desert or into
sumps, such as Great Salt Lake, Utah,
and Pyramid Lake, Nevada. N o running
water escapes to the ocean. During the
last glacial epoch (from about ten thousand to seventy thousand years ago), there
were periods when the climatewas cooler
and wetter than it is now, and large lakes
formed in numerous separate basins. For
example, a lake formed in the Lahontan
basin that was slightly larger than Lake
Erie. T h e Lahontan basin of Nevada, as
well as n o r t h e a s t e r n C a l i f o r n i a , was
invaded by a n ancestral cutthroat trout at
a n u n k n o w n time. I t is c o m m o n l y
assumed that this cutthroat- trout ancestor gained access to the Lahontan basin
from the Columbia basin at the beginning of the last glacial period or about
seventy thousand years ago, but it may
have been m u c h earlier. Fossil t r o u t
bones, several million years old, have
been uncovered in the Lahontan basin,
and they are similar to the bones of the
Lahontan cutthroat trout, Salmo clarki
henshawi.
I n any event, this ancestral trout was
the o n l y l a r g e predatory fish a m o n g
numerous species of minnows and suckers that established themselves. It evolved
into an efficient predator and may have
attained a large size in order to make use
of the large stocks of forage fishes. T h e
most common Lahontan minnow, the
tui chub. commonlv attains a maximum
size of fifteen to eighteen inches, certainly
more than a mouthful for a pan-sized
trout, but a mere appetizer to a subspecies
of trout whose weight averages twenty
pounds.
A p p r o x i m a t e l y ten t h o u s a n d years
ago, when the climate became warmer
a n d drier, Lake L a h o n t a n rapidly declined in size. About a thousand years
later, it desiccated considerably and left
two s u m p lakes, Walker Lake and Pyramid Lake. But, only Pyramid Lake maintained continuity a n d retained a full
complement of L a h o n t a n fishes. T h i s
allowed the Lahontan cutthroat trout to
continue without i n t e r r u ~ t i o nits evolutionary specialization as a large, predatory trout. I n addition to the populations
in Walker and Pyramid lakes, theLahontan cutthroat trout survived in mountain
rivers and lakes, such as Lake Tahoe, but
these environments and their associated
fish faunas were vastly different from
Pyramid Lake, a n d these populations
were subjected to evolutionary pressures
distinctly different from those affecting
the cutthroat of Pyramid Lake; other
Lahontan cutthroat trout introduced
into Pyramid Lake never approached the
maximum size of the native trout. Alt h o u g h all L a h o n t a n cutthroat trout
populations that have been isolated from
each other for about nine thousand years
(since the desiccation of Lake Lahontan)
exhibit little morphological differentiation and are all classified as the same
subspecies, h e n s h a w i , they have a l l
evolved different life-history specializations, and none were so finely adapted to
make such efficient use of the Pyramid
L a k e e n v i r o n m e n t as was t h e native
Pyramid Lake trout-thus their enor-
mous size.
What happened to the original Pyramid Lake cutthroat trout is an interesting
case history of a conflict of values between settlers in the area a n d native
Americans, pal titularly as this conflict
relates to values associated with water.
While the d a t i n g of artifacts indicates
that the first native Americans appeared
on the shores of Lake Lahontan about
twelve thousand years ago, the present
Paiute Indian culture at Pyramid Lake
began only about six hundred years ago.
T h e Pyramid Lake Paiutes developed
great skills as fishermen and established a
relatively stable, advanced society. T h e
first nonnative Americans to visit Pyramid Lake were J o h n C. Fremont, his
scout Kit Carson, and their exploration
party. Fremont had traveled south from
Oregon to explore the Great Basin and to
search for the mythical Buenaventura
River t h a t a n c i e n t m a p s depicted as
draining the Great Basin to the Pacific
Ocean. O n January 10, 1844, Fremont
and his party crested a ridge north of
Pyramid Lake and were astonished at the
sight of a vast sea existing in the midst of
a .great expanse of desert. Fremont's party
camped near the mouth of the Truckee
River where it entered Pyramid Lake and
soon came in contact with the Paiute
Indians. T h e initial contact was friendly.
I n fact, t h e P a i u t e s b r o u g h t freshly
caught trout to Fremont and his party.
Fremont remarked, "Their flavor was
excellent-superior, in fact, to that of any
fish I have ever known. They were of
extraordinary size-about as large as the
Columbia River salmon-generally from
two to four feet in length." Unfortunately, in less than a hundred years from
the time Fremont first saw these giant
cutthroat trout, this magnificent fish was
actually exterminated from the waters of
Pyramid Lake.
T h e California gold rush of 1849 and
the Nevada mining boom of the 1850s
brought many settlers to the Pyramid
Lake area. There were conflicts with the
Paiute Indians, but during the 1860s a
peace treaty was negotiated. T h e treaty
established the Pyramid Lake Indian
Reservation a n d gave o w n e r s h i p of
Pyramid Lake and its fishes to the Paiutes. However, the Indians were given n o
control over the Truckee River, the only
stream flowing into the lake that is suitable for the spawning of the cutthroat
trout, and the major water supply for the
lake.
T h e rapidly increasing population
centers of western Nevada a n d eastern
California created a great demand for
lumber. Numerous lumber mills were set
u p on the Truckee River in California in
the 1860s. As the stumpage in the watershed was lumbered. massive amounts of
sawdust were dumped into the river, and
in 1869 a Reno newspaper reported that
"millions" of spawning trout were killed
in the Truckee River as a result of sawdust pollution. Duringspringrunoff, the
sawdust deposits were transported to the
mouth of ihe Truckee River, sometimes
in such quantity that the spawning runs
of trout from the lake were completely
blocked. By 1875, dams blocked the river
near Reno, effectively reducing potential
spawning habitat by about seventy-five
percent. From 1899 to 1930, a paper mill
at Floriston, California, dumped u p to a
hundred fifty thousandgallons per day of
highly toxic wastes i n t o the Truckee
River, eliminating all fish life for a considerable distance downstream. In addition, numerous unscreened irrigation
ditches must have led to the destruction
of millions of young cutthroat trout in
the river as they migrated downstream to
Pyramid Lake.
In 1868, the railroad was extended to
Wadsworth, Nevada, a short distance
from Pyramid Lake; this provided the
o p p o r t u n i t y t o s h i p t r o u t t o distant
markets a n d resulted in a tremendous
increase in commercial exploitation of
the resource. D u r i n g their s p a w n i n g
runs, the trout were netted, snagged,
speared, clubbed, and dynamited. It is
incredible that even with all these adversities the Pyramid Lake cutthroat trout
lasted as longas they did. They must have
been a superbly adapted fish because they
not only persisted but managed to remain
abundant until the 1920s when successful
spawning became rare.
T h e ultimate demise of the Pyramid
Lake cutthroat trout began in 1903 when
a new government agency, the Reclamation Service (now the Bureau of Reclamation) annouced plans for its first project:
the Newlands Project. It would divert
water from the Truckee River to the Carson River in order to irrigate desert lands
and make them bloom. T h e early history
of the Newlands Project is one I am sure
t h e p r e s e n t B u r e a u of R e c l a m a t i o n
would prefer to forget, as it was an incred-
ibly unwise useof a natural resource. T h e
first C o m m i s s i o n e r of Reclamation,
Frederick Newell, drummed u p support
for the Newlands Project with speeches to
Nevada audiences in which he frequently
emphasized the philosophy of thedepartment: "Fish have n o rights in water law."
T h i s is still a popular cliche amongwestern water-users.
T h e gates on Derby Dam, about thirty
miles above Pyramid Lake, were closed
J u n e 7, 1905, in a grand ceremony highlighted by the dewatering of the Truckee
River below the dam and resulting in the
stranding of numerous, large cutthroat
trout.' Derby Dam was constructed with a
fish ladder, but the ladder was poorly
designed and cheaply constructed. It was
essentially a failure as a fish-passage
device. Between 1905 and the early 1920s,
there was a sufficient surplus flow in the
Truckee River so that trout could spawn
below the dam and even get over the fish
ladder in some years. T h e trout population in Pyramid Lake remained relatively
high, and their enormous size attracted
presidents, supreme-court justices, a n d
movie stars who had an interest in the
gentle art. In the 1920s. the Bureau of
Reclamation added an electrical generating facility to its Newlands Project, as it
seemed utterly foolish to let surplus water
flow out into a desert lake (only to evaporate) when it could be diverted through
turbines that gererated electricity a n d
a d d i t i o n a l income. T h u s a d d i t i o n a l
water was diverted out of the Truckee
River to the Carson basin, and cutthroat
trout spawning became more infrequent.
T h e last major, successful spawning run
occurred in 1927, with some reproduction reported in 1928or 1929. Some artificial propagation and stocking occurred
in 1930. A high flow in 1928 allowed
some trout to get above Derby Dam all the
way to Reno. T h e peopleof Reno had not
seen the Pyramid Lake trout that far u p
the river for so long they forgot its correct
classification and themayor of Renomistakenly declared Rainbow Day in honor
of the cutthroat trout. In 1938 the offspring from this spawning run made the
last attempt to spawn i n the Truckee
River, but the flow was shut off and the
fish a n d their spawn perished. T h u s
ended the era of the world's largest cutthroat trout a n d probably the largest
trout native to western North America.
Stories relating that the native cutthroat
trout did not completely perish from
Pyramid Lake but were able to reproduce
in springs on the lake bottom have persisted. But all known springs in Pyramid
Lake have temperatures or chemistry
lethal to trout eggs. I know of n o evidence
suggesting that the native trout did not
become extinct in Pyramid Lake.
T h e data gathered on the 1938 spawning run is truly amazing. T h e Indians
harvested 1,069 trout in their commercial
fishery. When a United States Fish and
Wildlife Service biologist weighed a sample of 195 fish from the run, the average
weight was twenty pounds! H e measured
321 trout taken from the 1938 spawning
run; about ninety percent of these ranged
from thirty-two to thirty-eight inches,
with a few fish of forty inches. No maximum weights were given in this report,
but extrapolation from a length-weight
curve suggests that a forty-inch trout
would weigh between thirty and thirtyfive pounds.
How abundant was the original Pyramid Lake cutthroat trout, and what was
its maximum size? These questions can
never be known with any degree of certainty. In the 1880s, long after most of the
upstream spawning and nursery areas
were blocked or polluted in the Truckee
River, commercial shipments of trout
from Wadsworth ranged from two hundred t o two h u n d r e d fifty t h o u s a n d
pounds per year. Records for another
commercial fishery point at Verdi are not
available. An unknown quantity of trout
were transported by w a i o n to towns in
N e v a d a a n d were c o n s u m e d o n t h e
Indian reservation as well. I would estimate that even under the conditions of a
declining fishery of the 1880s, the annual
catch then was probably a b o u t five
h u n d r e d t h o u s a n d p o u n d s , a n d the
actual biomass of trout in Pyramid and
Winnemucca lakes was in excess of two
million pounds. T h e official world
record c u t t h r o a t t r o u t of forty-one
pounds was caught in 1925 by a Paiute
Indian, J o h n Skimmerhorn, but there
were reports of larger specimens taken by
the Indian commercial fishery. Mr. Fred
Crosby, the agent for the tribal fishery,
claimed to have seen a cutthroat trout of
sixty-two pounds in 1916!
T h e Nevada Fish and Game Department began to plant trout in Pyramid
Lake in 1950 o n a n experimental basis.
Rainbow trout werestockedat first, but it
was soon found that the Lahontan cutthroat trout from available stocks in Heenan Lake, California, and Summit Lake,
Nevada, %grewfaster and survived better
than the rainbow trout. T h e advantageof
Lahontan cutthroat trout over all other
species and subspecies of salmonid fishes
stocked i n t o Pyramid Lake was most
likelv due to their tolerance to hinh alkalinity, or more specifically, to the concentration of carbonate and bicarbonate ions
in the water. As salts and various ions are
transported into Pyramid Lake each year
via the Truckee River, evaporation and
the lack of any outflow concentrates salts.
Pyramid Lake water, in recent years, has
exhibited a n averagts salinity of about
5,400 parts per million or about fifteen
percent of the salinity of ocean water
(35,000 ppm.). Of the total (5,400 ppm.
total salts) carbonate and bicarbonate
ions averagr more than 1,100 ppm. Most
Weight
in
pounds:
A
28
24
--
20
.-
16
--
12
.-
8
-.
4
-=
/
/
/
/
/
0
0
/
0
/
/
0
8
/'
/
0'
d H H
Age i n years:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
A. Estimated age and growth of the original natir~rcutthroat trout in Pyramid Lakr.
Admittedly, therr are littlr data available to construct such a curve, and considerable error
may be involz/rd. Spawning probably first occurred at age four at a size of three to four
pounds. Thrreaftrr, growth was rapid. T h e 1938spawning run consisted of fish thirty to
forty inches in lrngth and ar~eragingtwenty pounds in weight. It is assumed that this run
originatrdfrom rrproduction from I927 through I930or of fish aged right to eleven in the
1938 run.
R. K n o w n agr and weight of604 non-native cutthroat trout sampled in Pyramid Lakr in
1975 and 1976. Of 604 fish agr Iwo or more, only six ( I percent) attained age spclrn and n o n r
were age eight. Typically, in largr population.^, the m a x i m u m weight of an indir~idualin
any age c1as.s is about tzoicr that of theaz~rrageweight of its cohorts; thus, the m a x i m u m
u1ri~qiztexprctrdfrorn thr original natir~rcutthroat trout urould hazw been at least forty
poztnd.~and perhaps .sixty p0und.s. T h r m a x i m z ~ mweight expected of the presrnt nonriati7w cutthroat throut .stockrd into Pyranzid Lake would br about sixteen pounds. Therr
is a hereditary ba.tis go71rrning m a x i m u m growth and m a x i m u m agr. T h i s fact must br
rrcognizrd and usrd brfore thr Pyramid Lake fishrry can rrgain porn a srmblancr of its
forntrr greatne.s.s.
fish species are physiologically stressed at
carbonate-bicarbonate levels greater than
1,000 ppm. T h e p H of Pyramid Lake
averages 9.2.
T h e stocking of Lahontan cutthroat
trout from Heenan Lakeor Summit Lake
into Pyramid Lake, first by the Nevada
Fish and Game Department, then by the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
and by the Paiute Indian Tribe, can be
considered successful in that a popular
fishery for large cutthroat trout has been
reestablished. Many more pounds of
hatchery trout have been stocked, however, than have been caught in this
fishery during the past thirty years. On
the average, it takes fifteen to twenty
hours of angling to catch a legal-sized
trout. But a small groupof PyramidLake
"experts," fishingduring winter months,
have had considerably better angling
success-and the exploits of these anglers
have been the subject matter of several
magazine articles. T h e present fishery
pales in comparison to the fishery that
was established when the trout were able
to spawn in the Truckee River. Valid
creel-census d a t a are lacking for the
Pyramid Lake fishery. Various estimates
during the past ten years indicate an
annual catch of legal-size fish of four
thousand to twenty thousand, averaging
about twenty inches in size, or an annual
harvest of about ten thousand to fortyfive thousand pounds. Minimum leaal
lengths have ranged from fifteen to nineteen inches, and the present minimum is
set at eighteen inches, with only flies and
lures allowed. T h e annual catch of cutthroat from Pyramid Lake during the
past ten years is probably less than five
percent of the catch of a hundred years
ago. In comparison, the maximum size
and maximum life span of the nonnative
cutthroat trout falls considerably short of
the native Pyramid L a k e trout. T h e
graph compares the age and growth of
the nonnative cutthroat trout stocked
into Pyramid Lake with that of thenative
trout (the latter data is estimated from
historical records). T h e maximum life
span of the original strain was probably
eleven years in Pyramid Lake. Adequate
reconstruction of an age-growth curve of
the original Pyramid Lake trout is hampered by lack of precise data. All that is
known is that a run of trout from thirty to
forty inches in length occurred in 1938
averaging twenty pounds, with a maximum weight of about thirty to thirty-five
pounds. It is assumed that all of these
trout resulted from spawning from 1928
through 1930. T h a t is, they were eight to
eleven years old. Nonnative cutthroat
from Heenan Lake and Summit Lake
origins have a maximum life span of
seven years when they average eight
pounds in weight. A hereditary-based difference between the native Pyramid Lake
cutthroat trout and the stocks of Heenan
and Summit lakes resulted in different
life histories, influencing maximum size
and age, which is predicted from evolutionary theory. T h e nonnative stocks of
Lahontan cutthroat trout evolved in isolation from the past ten thousand years or
more without large stocks of relatively
large forage fishes in their environment.
Thus, they did not obtain the size of tht
cutthroat trout in ancient Lake Lahontan.
It is interesting to note that from 1976
to 1978, several trout weighingmore than
twenty pounds were caught in Pyramid
Lake. T w e n t y - p o u n d trout were not
caught before or since that time. What
differentiated these large trout from the
other nonnative cutthroat trout in Pyramid Lake? They could be the result of the
size of the trout stocked, the time of year
they were stocked, a particular stocking
site (environmental factors), or adifferent
origin of the planted fish (hereditary factor). I examined records of all of the trout
stocked into Pyramid Lake from 1950 to
1977. In 1970, the Nevada Fish and Game
Department stocked forty-eight hundred
two-year-old Lahontan cutthroat trout of trout of Pyramid Lake. However, I
Walker Lake origin. Since 1948 the believe that the Pilot Peak population
Walker Lake cutthroat trout have been and the Walker Lake stock of Lahontan
maintained in a hatchery, but of all La- cutthroat trout might offer genetic diverhontan cutthroat trout, the Walker Lake sity for larger maximum size and longer
stock continued to evolve (until 1948 at life span than is presently found in the
least) as a predator on tui chub in an Heenan Lake and Summit Lake stocks.
environment most comparable to Pyra- By stocking large numbers of genetically
mid Lake. I suspect that the exception- diverse Lahontan cutthroat trout into
ally large trout caught in the 1976 to 1978 Pyramid Lake, then continually selectperiod were eight- to ten-year-old Walker ing the oldest and largest spawners that
Lake cutthroat trout. I suggest that the survive in Pyramid Lake to reproduce the
hereditary factor be given more recogni- next generation (no significant natural
tion if the Pyramid Lake fishery is to reproduction is likely to occur in the
regain a semblance of its original glory. Truckee River in the foreseeable future),
I bring this matter u p because in 1979 a trout approximating the maximum size
I published a paper with Terry Hickman and age of the native trout might be
that reported the discovery of what we obtained. By experimenting todetermine
believe to be the original Pyramid Lake the best rearing techniques, the most
cutthroat trout-still existing in a small opportune size, time, and locations for
stream on the Nevada-Utah border.2 Mr. stocking, and by producing sterile fish
Hickman was attempting to locate popu- with no gonad development (which will
lations of the rare Bonneville basin cut- increase growth and life span), it is probthroat trout at the time, when he found able that the annual catch of Pyramid
an unusual trout in a tiny stream drain- Lake trout could be increased byfourfold
i n g Pilot Peak o n the Nevada-Utah to fivefold over current levels, and a new
border. T h e characteristics of the newly world-record cutthroat trout might be in
found cutthroat trout unmistakenly the offing. This is all predicated, howidentified it as the Lahontan basin sub- ever, on a sufficient flow of water (about
species henshawi. T h e small stream on four hundred thousand acre feet per year)
Pilot Peak is in the Bonneville basin, so in the Truckee River to maintain the
the trout had to be introduced by man. Lake at its current level. In 1983, after a
Cutthroat trout were known from the long legal battle, the Supreme Court of
stream prior to 1950(when Lahontan cut- the lJnited States ruled that the Pyramid
throat trout from Heenan Lake were first Lake Indian Tribe is legally entitled to
available for stocking). We determined only thirty thousand acre feet of water
that Pyramid Lake cutthroat trout were each year from the Truckee River for irrithe only source of Lahontan cutthroat gation and that they have n o legal claim
trout propagated in Nevada (beginning to the water for Pyramid Lake or its
in 1883) before the propagation of trout fishes. I can only hope that therearepubfrom Heenan and Summit lakes, thus the lic officials with an innatesenseof justice
Lahontan cutthroat trout on Pilot Peak and decency who will attempt to work
probably had its origin from the original out a compromise on water use in the
stock native to Pyramid Lake. T h e exis- Truckee River basin so that flow adetence for many generations of a small quate to maintain the present lake level
population in a tiny stream, in such a can be achieved. I also hope that some of
completely different environment from the ideas and theories discussed herein
Pyramid Lake, has undoubtedly altered will be applied in an effort to restore the
the genetics (heredity) of the only known greatness of the Pyramid Lake trout
fishery. 3
living descendents of the nativecutthroat
I. Water diverted from the Truckee River
lowered the lake level by eighty-five feet,
most of the decline coming after 1920.
Evaporation rates are high in this desert
region-about four feet per year. If no
inflowing water were to enter Pyramid Lake
from the Truckee River for one year, the
lake Irvrl would drop by four feet minus the
relatively few inches of precipitation falling
directly on the lake and the very minor
input of a few springs and ephemeral dry
washes. T h e surface area of Pyramid Lake
and connrcting Winnemucca Lake was
about two hundred thousand acres until
around 1910. Since then the lake has shrunk
to littlr more than one thousand surfacr
BCTCS.
2. T. J. Hickman and R. J. Behnke. T h r
Progrr.s.sir~rFish-Culturist (1979), 41, 135.
Robert Rehnke is a professor of
fi.therie.t biology in the department of
F i s h e r y a n d W i l d l i f e B i o l o g y at
Colorado State Clnir~ersity,Fort Collins,
Colorado. I n addition to numerous
profettlonal artzcles, he wrzter a regular
column for Trout magazne. H e har
alto wrztten the sectzon on ralmonzformet for &heEncyclopedia Britannlca. We would lzke t o add a not? of
thanks to Rob Berls, J o h n Mzngo, and
Chzp Clark, w h o were znstrummtal
Z T ~obtaznzng the color photographs of
Hud.~on't pa~ntzngtof the cutthroat
trout that zllustrate thlt pzece.
W illiarn Radcliffe
and the Grand Mesa Lakes Feud
Wzllzam Radclzffe (1856 to 1938) was a wealthy
Englzshmen w h o ownedsn~erallakes o n the Grand Mesa
and operated two hatcherzec for fzsh propaqatzon before
the turn of the century. H e was a pradunte of Oxford and
quttea sportsman H e ucually spent h ~ yummers
s
In
Colorado and the rest of the year ~nPnrzs or London. T h e
zllustratzon zs from the Rocky Mountain News (July 19,
1901, p 3 ) and was furnzshed by the Colorado Hzstorzcal
Soczety
by William Wiltzius
Fishing from the Earliest Times
(first e d ~ t i o n 1921;
,
.se(.ond edition, 1926) was written by William Radcliffe, a wealthy Englishman, Oxford graduate, and
accompli.shed angler. T h e book is
well k n o w n t o arzgling bibliophiles for its exhausti7~ennd extm.si71e
treatment of angling in ancient times.
T h e second edition i.r considered more
useful because of its e.ucellent fifteenpage bibliography. A little-known fact
recently brought to our attention i.r that
Radcliffe owned and operated a fish
hatchery for a short period of time (1896
to 1901) in Colorado's Grand Mesa lakes
region. We reprint below a portion o f t he
appendix section of William J . Wiltzius's recently published book, Fish Culture andstocking in Colorado, 1872-1978
that describes the details of Radcliffe's
unfortunate difficu1tie.s with the American West. For those of you interested i n
the history of American fish culture, w e
highly recommend Bill Wiltzius's de-
lightful book. It can be obtained by writing to the State of Colorado Department
of Natural Resources, Diuision of Wildlife, 6060 Broadway, Denver, Colorado
80216. T he price for this paperbound edition (102 pages and replete w i t h numerous illustrations) is only five dollars,
po.rtpaid.
BACKGROUND
O n May 14, 1896, a wealthy Englishman named William Radcliffe acquired
certain leases to property adjacent to
Alexander Lake for $7,000, as well as irrigation rights and exclusive rights of fishing and propagating fish in all twenty of
the Grand Mesa lakes operated by the
Surface Creek Ditch and Reservoir Company. At that time, the property included
a hotel, stables, cabins, one fish hatchery,
an ice house, and outhouses.
Radcliffe's acquisition, which was for
ninety-nine years, was obtained from
Richard Forest, who earlier had propa-
gated fish o n G r a n d Mesa with his
partner William Alexander. Mr. Alexander, namesake for one lake in the chain
of more than a hundred lakes on the
mesa, had mysteriously disappeared
around 1893. Apparently, after his disappearance the Grand Mesa lakes were
heavily poached by local residents. Radcliffe learned that for two or three years
before he bought the property, fish had
been taken by illegal methods (i.e. seining, snagging, and dynamiting) while
running u p small streams to spawn. Even
before the disappearance of Mr. Alexander, the Grand Mesa lakes had a rather
tainted history of illegal propagation of
fish and fishing.
I n July 1891, Colorado's FishCommissioner, Gordon Land, found it necessary
to personally inquire into alleged violations of the fish laws in western Colorado. Mr. Alexander, of Delta County,
had been shipping trout to Leadville and
Ouray at profitable figures, claiming the
trout were propagated in his lakes at the
Photo courtesy Colorado Historical Society
head of Surface Creek. However, Mr.
Land's inspection into the matter demonstrated that the lakes designated by
Alexander and his partner had been
stocked by trapping the fish from adjacent streams and impounding them in
Alexander Lake (see illustration). N o
hatchery was located on the property
then, nor had been in the past. T h e trout
stolen from public waters had been confined in this-alleged summer-resort lake,
later to be removed and sold under the
pretense that they were from private
ponds. Mr. Alexander was fined fifty dollars andcosts, and each party who bought
fish from him in Leadville and Ouray
was also fined according to the law.'
While these "propagators" were conducting their fish business, they weregetting stiff poaching competition from the
Delta County locals who made it their
custom every spawning season to procure
about a year's supply of fish. This was
1. Field and Farm, July 25, 1891, p. 2.
accomplished at the chain of irrigation
lakes on Grand Mesa. When large numbers of trout had left a lakeand ascended a
connecting stream to spawn, the poacher
would lower the headgate to that stream,
leaving the trout high and dry. Although
one poacher could accomplish this task,
efficiency was improved if at least two
were involved-one to drive, scare, or
concentrate the trout in an area of stream
where a wagon could be easily loaded,
and another to lower the headgate and
return to assist in loading the wagon.
According to Field and Farm (May 8,
1897, p. 12), the early fish culturists at the
Grand Mesa lakes disposed their fishing
rights and propagational privileges to
the Englishman Radcliffe, because they
could not control the local poachers.
GRAND MESA LAKES FEUD
After acquiring the facilities at Alexander Lake, Mr. Radcliffe began to
improve his property and to propagate
trout. H e built two houses for his
employees and a private house for himself, along with a fish houseandasecond
hatchery. Radcliffe usually stayed at his
G r a n d Mesa estate only d u r i n g the
summers and spent the rest of the time in
Paris or London.
Similar to the charitable endeavors of
Mr. Kirkpatrick, who operated a large
fishery preserve in the Durango area,
Radcliffe donated many cutthroat trout
(eggs and young fish) to the state for
stocking in public waters. Unlike Kirkpatrick though, and probably because of
the notorious and scandalous poaching
that had transpired earlier at the Grand
Mesa lakes, Radcliffe employed as many
as seven deputized state game wardens to
patrol his property. He also required that
fishermen obtain a permit to fish his
lakes. This, no doubt, irritated many lawabiding fishermen and incensed those
persons who had been accustomed to
poaching the Grand Mesa lakes. Soon
Mr. Radcliffe was accused of giving fish-
0
Island Lake on Grand Mesa is rohcre 1Vomnck runs murdered in July 1901 by
a state-deputized game uiardrn Tlrr warden had been employed by Rndclifje
lo prr71ent poachin,g at his lakes. T h e photo is from the State Fish
Commissioner Biennial for 1915-16.
ing permits to only a favored frw. H e
denied this, saying:
N o one has rvrr 1)c.cm rcfl~seda
permit to fish in a way laid down
by the law of the statr of Ck>loratlo
and to take away with them a11
their catch without payment of a
single cent. O n the other hand, I
have strictly insisted u p o n t h e
observance of the game laws.
I n 1899 Colorado legislators ~>assetla
law that required, for the first timt, in the
state's history, a fee for procuring a
l~censeto operate any privately owned
game and fish preserve w i t h ~ nColorado.
Radcliffe was quick to comply. Of thirtysix licenses issued before September,
Radcliffe's was the second. Colorado's
Fish Commissioner J o h n s o n issued a
Class A park o r lake license to Mr. Radcliffe o n May 4, 1899. It entitled him to
propagate, catch, and sell fish from thirteen of the Radcliffe lakes as well as the
streams connecting these lakes. Since
1896 Radcliffe had usedonly twelveof the
twenty lakes originally acquired (Alexander, Barren, Eggleston. Upper Eggleston, Hotel, Upper Hotel, Island, I k e p
Slough, Sheep Slough, Carp, Beaver, and
Beaver Dam).
Radcliffe's fish business finally became
lucrative by 1899. T h e expenses associated with h i r i n g spawn-takers and
culturists were lessened considerably
through a contractual agreement with
the C1.S. Fish Commission, which took
o n those tasks in cxchangr for a share of
the eggs collected at thc, lakes. Either
because. of jealousy of Mr. Radcliffe's success with his fish business o r irritability
associated with his requiringpermits and
employing guards, Drlta C o i ~ n t yresidents, in August of 1899, filed a suit questioning the legality of Radcliffe's newly
acquired Class A license. Charges of
fraud and misrepresentation were made.
A general misitnderstanding of this new
license law prevailed in Colorado then,
and many of the press releases wereeither
inaccurate or very confusing. Judge D. C.
Beaman, who had been the instigator of
the lake lirense law in the legislature earlier in the year, assisted Radcliffe in the
suit defense. T h e ruling favored the legality of Radcliffe's license, which further
irritated many residents.
Adverse feelings toward Radcliffe still
festered nearly two years later. William A.
Womack, a well-known cattleman and
resident of Delta County since the late
1880s. had been warned several times
about poaching the Grand Mesa lakes.
H e had his summer cattle range near the
lakes, and o n July 14, 1901, accompanied
by four of his range riders (Frank Hinchman, Frank Trickle, and Dan and John
Gipe), Womack proceeded to the Grand
Mesa lakes to fish (?). According to a n
item in the Rocky Mountain News (July
19, 1901, p. 3, col. I), it was Womack's
intention not to show his fishing permit.
and if ordered away from the lakes, to
take the mattc.r into the courts antl make
Ratlcliffe show upon what a ~ ~ t h o r i he
ty
prcvc~ntcdpeol~lefrom fishing the lakes.
O n that date, Womack's fishing party
was confrontetl and warned away o n two
occasions by Frank A. Mahany,2 one of
Radcliffe's del~utizedstate game wardens.
Radcliffe was away from thelakc,son busincss that day. Details of what :tctually
happrnrd varied considerably antl later
wercx tlic subjrct of a scxnsational trial,
l , ~ r a ~ warden
~sr
Mahany shot and killed
Womack and wounded Hinchman during a confrontation at Island Lake (see
illustri~tion).
T h c killing of Wornark so ~>rovoketl
the local residents that o n the evening of
July 16, 1901, an iratemobset firetoallof
Ratlt,liffr's hi~ilclingsexcept his t w o
Iiat(.hc-ricss,a fish house, an ice house, two
small cabins, a n d two large cisterns.
Thest. wrre spared because it was believed
that thca I1.S. Fish Commission had a
share in them.
Aftrr 1899, R;~drliffeoperatecl his fish
l~usiness1tndt.r an agreement with the
1J.S. Fish Commission, whereby they
were to senel E. S. T u l i a n , Leadville
hatchery superintendent, and threeother
men to the lakes to collect eggs. From the
close of the spawning season, o n about
July 4, two men were to be left as long as
necessary to attend to hatching the eggs
(cutthroat trout) in Radcliffe's hatchery
a n d to plant the fry. ?'he first halfmillion eggs were to be put in Radcliffe's
hatchery, the next half-million brought
to the 1.earlville hatchery, a n d so o n .
From the eggs taken to the Leadville
station, Mr. Ratlcliffe was to receive 33.3
percent of the fry.
After i t became known that the buildings sl~aretlby the first mob belonged to
Radcliffe and were not those of the U.S.
Fish Commission, o n August 25, 1901, a
second mob set fire to and destroyed all of
Radcliffe's remaining property. Because
of repeated mob threats between July 16
and August 29, 1901, and the lack of state
or federal government protection, neither
Radcliffe, his employees, nor the U.S.
Fish Commission men under contract to
Radcliffe, were able to give expert care to
the approximately two million eggs and
young fish. Many died o r became diseased, ciespite reports to the contrary.
Shortly after the first m o b had struck,
Radcliffe notifird the U.S. Fish Commission in Washington that they were in
breach of their contract with him.
H e was informed by his lawyer that the
laws in Colorado made it impossible to
2. At least six tlilferent spellings of this
name have appeared in print (Mahany,
Mahaney, Mahoney. Mehaney, Mehany, and
MoHaney). My use of Mahany is based on
the spelling fountl in Srate Supreme Court
documenrs.
take civil action against the State of
Colorado, the County of Delta, or against
the sheriff. Radcliffe's only recourse was
a civil action for damages against the
individuals composing the mob. But
most of the mob were masked, making
legal identification almost impossiblr.
Furthermore, even in t h r event of obtaining a judgment against some of the mob,
the laws of Colorado gave an exrmption
of $2,000 in cases of judgments against
ranchmen, etc., a n d Radcliffe was informed that not oneof the mob was worth
even $1,000.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Mahany procured a change of venue for his trial. It
was moved from Delta toGunnison. T h i s
change most likely resulted because of a n
attempted lynching of Mahany and the
unlikelyhood of obtaining an unbiased
jury in Delta. O n September 20, 1901, the
trial began. O n the twenty-second Mahany was found guilty of manslaughter,
but he was not sentenred at that time.
Evidently, o n September 27, 1901, his
lawyers waived the filing of a motion for
a new trial and stated to the district court
in Gunnison that heconsented that j u d g
ment for involuntary manslaughter be
entered o n rheverdict. T h e court cleclined
to pass sentence, however, and over the
objection of the lawyers. ordered that the
verdict be set aside and that there be a new
trial. Before this second trial began,
Mahany also had lost an appeal for a Writ
of Habeas Corpus in the state supreme
court (Colorado Reports, January term
1902, vol. 29, pp. 442-446).
Radcliffe, apparently dejected by the
adverse feeling toward h i m in Delta
County and the governor's refusal and
I1.S. government's inability to protect his
property or life, o n November 15, 1901,
leased his Grand Mesa lakes property,
including his exclusive rights of fishing
and propagation, to the U.S. Fish Commission for the sum of one dollar for
three years. L a t e i n December 1901,
Radcliffe appealed to the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. H e noted the
facts of his case, supported by affidavits,
and requested that demands be made o n
the U.S. government for redress and
c o m p e n s a t i o n for $65,000. H i s case
consequently became a n international
affair. Over the next forty months, much
correspondence, w i t h additional s u p porting facts and affidavits, was generated. Both state and federal governments
investigated the case (see Claim of William Radcliffe, Senate Document 271,
pp. 1-40, Fifty-eighth Congress, Second
Session, 1903 a n d 1904).
Mahany, meanwhile, underwent a
retrial at Gunnison o n April 23, 1902. A
jury f o u n d h i m guilty of voluntary
manslaughter, even though five of the
jurymen were for acquittal when balloti n g began. H i s attorney immediately
filed a motion for a new trial before he
was sentenced. O n April 26, 1902, Judge
Stevens sentenced him to not less than six
nor more than eight years in the state
penitentiary at Canyon City. A writ of
supersedas was applied for in the state
supreme court and was granted o n April
29, 1902. T h e Denuer Republican (April
30, 1902, p. 3, col. 6) reported that this
kept Mahany from thepenitentiary, since
orders had been sent to the sheriff of G u n nison County to hold him until the
supreme court could pass o n his case.
Eventually, Mahany brought a n action to
the state supreme court, alleging that the
district court in Gunnison erred in refusing to sentence him upon the first verdict
to a term in the county jail; erred in overruling his plea of former jeopardy; and
erred in rendering judgment upon the
second verdict. I n April 1903, the state
supreme court ruled to the contrary, however, thereby affirming the verdict and
the sentence passed during Mahany's retrial at G u n n i s o n in 1902 (Colorado
Reports, 1903 [April term], vol. 31, pp.
365-369).
T h e Mahany case was not yet finished.
Over the e n s u i n g eighteen months, a
,group of Mahany's West Slope friends,
led by Mrs. Mahany in Fruita, worked
diligently toward obtaining a pardon for
him. Eventually a petition, which pointed o u t t h a t Womack h a d threatened
Mahany o n numerous occasions and that
he had been repeatedly warned about
poaching, was submitted to the statepardon board o n November 18, 1904. T h i s
petition contained the signatures of seven
of the jurors who had convicted Mahany,
fifty local businessmen, and many of the
residents of Fruita. T h e board granted an
unconditional pardon to Frank Mahany,
thus, concluding one of the most sensational murder cases in the early history of
Colorado (Denver Republzcan, November 19, 1904, p. 12, col. 1).
Mahany was free at last, after being
confined for more than forty months.
Most of that time he had spent in the
county jail at Gunnison before being sent
to the state penitentiary. O n November
21, 1904, Mahany went to Fruita for a
joyous reunion with his family, which
included his young children. They had
been residing there with Mrs. Mahany's
father. T h e next day Mrs. Mahany went
to Grand Junction to express her thanks
to those who had given her assistance
(Grand Junctzon News, November 26,
1904, p. 1, col. 4).
By February 1904, Radcliffe's claim
had progressed to the point where the
U.S. Secretary of State informed the British ambassador that the Justice Department had determined to ask thepresident
that he recommend to Congress a sum of
$25,000 be appropriated for the relief of
Mr. Radcliffe, if he would accept it in full
payment for damages suffered. Radcliffe
agreed, and o n April 14, 1904, President
Theodore Roosevelt recommended this
to Congress. But it was not until January
9, 1909, that Congress passed a n act to
appropriate the $25,000 to Radcliffe (U.S.
Statutes at Large Sixtieth Congress 35
[pt. 2, chap. 171, p. 1400). By this time,
however, I estimate that the U.S. Fish
Commission had procured additional
cutthroat trout eggs and fish from the
G r a n d Mesa lakes valued at approximately $26,600. T h e U.S. government
may have delayed payment to Radcliffe
u n t i l the $25,000 was fully recovered.
C o l o r a d o benefited because t h e F i s h
Commission, with those additional eggs
and fish, produced approximately five
million more cutthroat trout than they
would have otherwise, and most of those
were stocked in Colorado waters. Furthermore, other eggs of species such as
brook and rainbow trout were also taken
by the commission from the Grand Mesa
lakes before 1910. Clearly, the U.S. Fish
Commission was not the loser in this
case, except that it soon lost its rights to
take eggs from these lakes. I n the U.S.
Fish Commission Report for fiscal year
1910 (pp. 9 a n d 10) the following is found:
At present only two stationsone in New England and one in
Colorado-obtain their supplies of
eggs from wild fish, and the fields
heretofore open to them are narrowing each year because of the
encroachments of commercial fish
culturists. I n 1910 Wellington Lake
and the Grand Mesa Lakes, heretofore the most productive sources of
the Colorado station for eggs of the
blackspotted, brook, and rainbow
trout, had to be given u p to private
enterprise.
After the first mob had struck in July
1901, Radcliffe feared for his life a n d
never returned to his once-beautiful estate at Grand Mesa lakes. While negotiating with the U.S. government through
the British ambassador, he spent some
time in Denver and in New York City
before he returned to England. I n 1921 he
p u b l i s h e d F i s h i n g f r o m t h e Earliest
T i m e s , a tome describing fishing techniques a n d methods used by ancient civilizations. William Radcliffe diedon May
10, 1938, in Kent, England, at the age of
81 ( N e w York T i m e s , May 11, 1938, p. 19,
col. 5). 3
W i l l i a m J . Wiltzius is a wildlife
researcher for Colorado's Department
of Natural Resources, Diz~isionof
Wildlife. H e has a bachelor's degree i n
fishery management and a master's
degree in fishery science. H e has been
w i t h the Diui,~ionof Wildlife for more
than twenty years.
Notes and
Comment
New Quarterly
Magazine o n
Lure Collecting Issued
A new quarterly publication entitled
the L u r e Collector has recently been
issued by editor-publisher Keith Brewer.
Twenty-four pages long, illustrated, and
with a self cover, the L u r e Collrctor's
purpose is to disseminate information
r e l a t i n g t o a n t i q u e p l u g s , flies, a n d
tackle. A year's subscription is fifteen dollars; a d d i t i o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n c a n be
obtained by writing to Mr. Brewer. H i s
address is: Route 3, Box 086-B, Maxton,
North Carolina 28364.
T h e Austin Hogan Award
When we announced the winner of the
Austin H o g a n Award i n the last issue of
the American Fly Fisher, we did not have
i n h a n d a p h o t o of t h e award's first
winner, namely Professor Richard Hoffmann. I n a n effort to rectify this unfortunate situation, we now publish a picture
of said winner sans his academic garb.
7'hc fish, a rainbow trout of ample proportions we are told, was released shortly
after the picture was taken.
More o n Austin Hogan
We include herein a letter received too
late for inclusion i n the previous issue of
the American Fly Fishrr.
...I first knew Austin i n the early
days of the Museum, d u r i n g that hectic
time when he was coordinating efforts
to p u t together the first issue of the
American Fly Fisher. L o o k i n g back
over the pile of correspondence of those
months, the t h i n g that strikes me is the
enormous a m o u n t of ener.9 ancl
commitment shown by Austin. T h a t he
managed the business of the Museum
and still found time for personal
research was astounding; coping with
organizational and financial problems,
cataloging donations, conducting
research, editing a journal, and at the
same time corresponding with dozens
of friends a n d contributors required a
Herculean effort.
Of course the first issue of the
journal was a smash hit, and things
seemed to settle down a bit. Still, there
were continuing problems, some of
which had a distinctly surreal edge to
them. Austin once wrote that he was at
his wit's end (Austin often used far
stronger language, but when he used
this particular phrase, you knew things
were serious) about what to d o with a
rod-beveling machine of H i r a m
Leonard's that had been donated to the
Museum. T h e Museum had the bevel
but n o funds to dismantle it, nothing
to haul it in, a n d n o place to store it
(as I recall, it was at least twelve feet
long). T h e whole affair had a Laurel
and Hardy twist about it-Austin and
Arnold Gingrich stuck with this twoton monster and n o place to put it. I
got the impression that they must have
camped o u t with the damned thing,
unless Arnold with his love of gadgets
decided to take it home with him.
As a n angling historian, Austin had
all the characteristics of a Bollandist
scholar-patience, tenacity, and a n
insatiable curiosity about historical
urocesses. H i s research standards were
the highest, and he was unwavering in
his insistence that full documentation
accompany anything claimed as fact.
Above all, he scorned shoddy, hasty
work ancl could be scathing in his
criticism-but never unless it was
warranted. Austin was impatient with
and irritated by gossip being passed off
as historical fact, and I have more than
one letter from h i m i n which he railed
against the caveats, distortions, halftruths, a n d downright lies that had
worked themselves into the mainstream
of contemporary angling history. For
someone like Austin w h o valued truth
a n d accuracy, these things were
inexrusable: he knew the cumulative
a n d damaging effect that resulted from
valiwould-be historians s~~bjectively
dating pet theories-fitting data to
their o w n preconceived ideas ( a case i n
point from a n earlier time was James
Henshall). Austin wanted the full,
unromanticized story; for him, the
shadow was as important as the light.
Austin understood as well the naivete
a n d superficiality of the "book of
nature" approach to history, i n which
the past was seen as simply so many
separate a n d discrete chapters set aside
a n d just waiting to be discovered a n d
neatly ordered. For Austin, the
fascination of angling history lay i n its
complexity, the bewildering intermesh-
i n g of various forces-economic, social,
psychological-that gave rise to the
particular event or invention. H e
emphasized repeatedly that i n addition
to economic factors, the history of
tackle development in this country
would be found in the history of the
machine shop; that one could not
understand the evolution of tackle
without first understanding the
q made
evolution of the t e c h n ~ l o ~that
it possible. Austin was interested in the
whole fabric of angling history.
As for fishing itself, Austin maintained a purely democratic view. It will
dismay some to learn that he would
not endorse fly-fishing-only waters.
T h i s attitude reflected his appreciation
for moral irony a n d his distaste for
anything that hinted of pretension and
sanctimony, for he deplored the elitist
concept of the fly fisher as somebody
special to be pampered. While he could
understand and applaud the professed
concern for the environment and the
resource o n the part of modern fly
fishermen. he also knew the miseuided
,
evangelicalism that could result-in its
extreme form masking a monumental
narcissism and intolerance.
For as long as I knew him, Austin's
primary interest in tackle itself were
the flies. When I first knew him, I
found this curious but later began to
understand his fascination for all the
patterns: it was the color, the life, and
the freedom that the fly represented.
T h e fly was the real magic. T h i s love
of fly patterns was expressed exquisitely
in Austin's watercolors of fly patterns
-metirulous and flawless i n detail and
rendered with a n unerring sense of
color ( a n d all painted d u r i n g his
recurring bouts of arthritis). I believe it
was the romance of the fly that
captured him.
Austin's personality was a rich and
complex one, full of healthy contradictions. I n spite of his pragmatic and
hard-nosed realism-a persona
reflecting the conservatism of Thoreau
and Melville a n d unmistakeably
Yankee-he had a streak of the
romantic i n h i m and was, by his own
admission, a hedonist with a particular
passion for oysters a n d jazz (said he
couldn't play, but he sure could listen).
H e was always young i n spirit and had
a broad range of interests, which made
for stimulating talk. His list of
"projects" was unending.
All of us w h o knew Austin
remember h i m for his generosity and
thoughtfulness, for his inquiring mind
that brought us together with common
interests and goals, and for having
shared a part of his life with us.
We shall all miss him.
J o h n Orrelle
Oregon City, Oregon
.
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Back Issues of the
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T h e following hack isst~c.sarc
;rviiilable at $ 4 per copy:
\'olurne 6,
Volume 7,
Volitrne 8,
\Jolumc 9,
Volrt~ne10,
Volume 11,
\'ol~crnc 12,
Nunilx~rs1 , 2, 3 atid il
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The
American
Museum
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Fly Fishing
Post Officr Box 42
Manc-hcstcr
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"Anglers All" to Chicago
T h e American Mitsc~umof Fly Fishins's highly acclaimctl traveling exhihition-"Anglers All: Man and His Envir o n m e n t 'I'hrough 500 Years of FlyFishingM-will hc o n view at Clhirago's
J o h n G . Slltdtl Aquarium from J u n e 1
through Septrrn1)er 7, 1986. 'This exhibit
was displayrd at thc C:alifornia Arademy
of Srienc-es in San Francisco during the
summer- of 198.5, where i t was estimated
to have been srcn hv lnorc than one million visitors.
T h e Shcdd Aclilarium is o n Lakeshore
Drive in downtown Chicago, with easy
access from O'I-lare Airport. T h i s central
location shoul(l facilitate attendance not
only by midwestern enthusiasts but also
by the Muscum's members and others
w h o may find it casy to stop and see t h r
exhibit in the rourse of their summer
travels. T h c Shedcl is open from 9 A.M.to
5 P.M. seven days a wrrk.
T h e American Museum of Fly Fishing
h:~sthe world's largest public collection
of fly-fishing artifacts a n d memorabilia;
"Anglel-s All" features highlights from
this collrction.
More than 200 years of fly-I-eeldesign
ant1 drvclopmcnt will be reprrsentetl,
with tlisl~laystlrpicting the rvolr~tionof
fly rods (luring the same period. Not a few
p;~stfly fishers were famous in their own
right, and in Chirago viewers will secs
tacklc that belonged to and was usc~ll)y
R i n g Crosby, Herbert Hoover, Ernest
H c m i n g w a y , S a m u e l M o r s e , Andrcsw
C:;rrnc-gie, a n d others. Fly-tying-that
sul)tle art of t r ~ n c o c t i n ginsect imitations
f l - o ~ nf e a t h e r s ;rntl fur-will hc well
r e ~ x e s e n ~also,
~ ( I as I'ictorian tools ant!
rn;~tc.ri;rls arc displayetl alongside their
very m u c h c.hi~ngetlmodern counterparts. Visitors will have ;I chance to rummage in great-grantlfather's attic-he
was 21 fly fisht~rman,of course, and his
collection of ~rrtifactsis at once amusing
and astorlnding.
"Fly-fishing," cxplains J o h n Merwin,
c x r c r l t i v e d i r e c t o r of t h e A m e r i c a n
M ~ r s c ~ l rof
n Fly Fishing, "has been a
1n;ijor Arncric;ln pastime for hundreds of
years. N o othcr spol-t has such a rich
fabric. of lore and tradition. In keeping
with o u r m u s e u m ' s National Exhibit
Program. it's a real pleasrlre to prcwmt
this rxhibit in Chicago in rooperation
with thr Shedd Aquarium. It is without
question the finest exhibit of its kindevcr
assrmhlcd."
AMFF Annual Meeting
September 4, 1986
.I'hr next annual meeting of both then
niernl)c~rshir:,and the Board of Trustees of
the American Museum of Fly Fishing
will I)r o n September 4, 1986 (Thurstlay),
in Chicago. T h e date and the following
sc.hcbdr~lcwere set at a meeting of the,
Excciltivc Cornmittre o n March 4, 1986.
1:00 P.M., President's Luncheon: for a
genc,ral cliscussion, trustees and members
invited. 2:30 P.M., Combined Mcrnhersl
Trustees Meeting. T h e First A n n u a l
AMFF Cllirago Auction/Dinner will bc
hclcl in the evening.
T h e locations for these events will he
:rnnounretI soon. See you in Chicago! 5
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